Abstract
Visual counting is drastically limited in amblyopia, especially under binocular viewing when shifting attention between eyes (Hou and Lai, 2018), compared to under monocular viewing (Sharma et al., 2000; Hou & Lai, 2018). In this study we investigated whether preceded cueing to the targeted eye improves visual counting performance in amblyopia. Visual counting was measured in two conditions by using a dichoptic approach with presenting stimuli in one eye or the other in each trial (Hou & Lai, 2018). In valid cue condition, highly visible Gabors (3 to 9, 2cpd, high contrast, 200 ms duration) were presented within the central visual field, preceded with a 100% valid cue (5.6 ° square frame, 500 ms) that insinuates which eye will receive the Gabors, followed by a 200 ms noise mask. In neutral cue condition, the stimuli were the same as in valid cue condition, except that the cue was presented in both eyes. The Gabors were randomly assigned to either the right or the left eye in each trial. The subjects were instructed to report the number of Gabors as quickly and accurately as possible. No feedback was given. Our data showed that cueing improved counting performance in amblyopic eye of anisometropic amblyopes and in both eyes of strabismic amblyopes. Normal-vision eyes and the fellow eye of anisometropic amblyopes experienced no difference between cue and neutral cue conditions. Our results further suggest the view that incorporating high-attention demand tasks into amblyopic training paradigms improves treatment results (Uner, Lai & Hou, 2017).