The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia
Perceptual learning of visual tasks is emerging as a promising treatment for amblyopia, a developmental disorder of vision characterized by poor monocular visual acuity. The tasks tested thus far span the gamut from basic psychophysical discriminations to visually complex video games. One end of the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media
2014
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37849/ |
| _version_ | 1848795546725122048 |
|---|---|
| author | Hussain, Zahra Astle, Andrew T. Webb, Ben S. McGraw, Paul V. |
| author_facet | Hussain, Zahra Astle, Andrew T. Webb, Ben S. McGraw, Paul V. |
| author_sort | Hussain, Zahra |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Perceptual learning of visual tasks is emerging as a promising treatment for amblyopia, a developmental disorder of vision characterized by poor monocular visual acuity. The tasks tested thus far span the gamut from basic psychophysical discriminations to visually complex video games. One end of the spectrum offers precise control over stimulus parameters, whilst the other delivers the benefits of motivation and reward that sustain practice over long periods. Here, we combined the advantages of both approaches by developing a video game that trains contrast sensitivity, which in psychophysical experiments, is associated with significant improvements in visual acuity in amblyopia. Target contrast was varied adaptively in the game to derive a contrast threshold for each session. We tested the game on 20 amblyopic subjects (10 children and 10 adults), who played at home using their amblyopic eye for an average of 37 sessions (approximately 11 h). Contrast thresholds from the game improved reliably for adults but not for children. However, logMAR acuity improved for both groups (mean = 1.3 lines; range = 0–3.6 lines). We present the rationale leading to the development of the game and describe the challenges of incorporating psychophysical methods into game-like settings. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:33:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37849 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:33:49Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-378492020-05-04T16:57:53Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37849/ The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia Hussain, Zahra Astle, Andrew T. Webb, Ben S. McGraw, Paul V. Perceptual learning of visual tasks is emerging as a promising treatment for amblyopia, a developmental disorder of vision characterized by poor monocular visual acuity. The tasks tested thus far span the gamut from basic psychophysical discriminations to visually complex video games. One end of the spectrum offers precise control over stimulus parameters, whilst the other delivers the benefits of motivation and reward that sustain practice over long periods. Here, we combined the advantages of both approaches by developing a video game that trains contrast sensitivity, which in psychophysical experiments, is associated with significant improvements in visual acuity in amblyopia. Target contrast was varied adaptively in the game to derive a contrast threshold for each session. We tested the game on 20 amblyopic subjects (10 children and 10 adults), who played at home using their amblyopic eye for an average of 37 sessions (approximately 11 h). Contrast thresholds from the game improved reliably for adults but not for children. However, logMAR acuity improved for both groups (mean = 1.3 lines; range = 0–3.6 lines). We present the rationale leading to the development of the game and describe the challenges of incorporating psychophysical methods into game-like settings. Frontiers Media 2014-11-03 Article PeerReviewed Hussain, Zahra, Astle, Andrew T., Webb, Ben S. and McGraw, Paul V. (2014) The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia. Frontiers in Psychology, 5 . 1210/1-1210/17. ISSN 1664-1078 Anisometropia Binocular Contrast sensitivity Development Perceptual learning Strabismus Visual acuity http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01210 doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01210 doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01210 |
| spellingShingle | Anisometropia Binocular Contrast sensitivity Development Perceptual learning Strabismus Visual acuity Hussain, Zahra Astle, Andrew T. Webb, Ben S. McGraw, Paul V. The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia |
| title | The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia |
| title_full | The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia |
| title_fullStr | The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia |
| title_full_unstemmed | The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia |
| title_short | The challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia |
| title_sort | challenges of developing a contrast-based video game for treatment of amblyopia |
| topic | Anisometropia Binocular Contrast sensitivity Development Perceptual learning Strabismus Visual acuity |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37849/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37849/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37849/ |