QUANTIFYING IMPROVED VISUAL PERFORMANCE THROUGH VISION TRAINING

VISUAL PERFORMANCE CAN BE IMPROVED WITH PRACTICE. HOWEVER, VISION TRAINING HAS BEEN LIMITED MAINLY TO ORTHOPTISTS AND CERTAIN OPTOMETRISTS. ALTHOUGH VISION TRAINING HAS PRODUCED IMPROVED VISUAL PERFORMANCE IN CERTAIN CASES, THE SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE VISUAL MECHANISMS BEING TRAINED LAGS FOR BEHIND. THE EMERGENCE OF CONTRAST SENSITIVITY AS BOTH A TOOL TO BETTER UNDERSTAND VISUAL MECHANISMS AND AS A GENERAL MEASURE OF COMPLEX VISUAL TARGET ACQUISITION, OFFERS UNIQUE CAPABILITIES FOR UNDERSTANDING AND QUANTIFYING IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF VISION TRAINING. SPOTTY SCIENTIIC EVIDENCE EXISTS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF CONTRAST SENSITIVITY USING SEVERAL PSYCHOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES ON NORMAL AND CLINICALLY ABNORMAL OBSERVERS. THE IMPORTANCE OF IMPROVING CONTRAST SENSITIVITY IS EVIDENT FOR ALL VISION INTENSIVE OCCUPATIONS AND SPORTS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL INITIALLY DEVELOP AND TEST A PSYCHOPHYSICALLY VALID, SCIENTIFICALLY BASED CONTRAST SENSITIVITY TRAINING PROGRAM AND TEST THE RESULTS ON OBSERVERS HAVING LOW TO NORMAL AND CLINICALLY ABNORMAL CONTRAST SENSITIVITY TO DETERMINE THE DEGREE TO WHICH CONTRAST SENSITIVITY AND COMPLEX TARGET PERCEPTION IS IMPROVED. THE FINAL PRODUCT WILL BE A SELF-ADMINISTERED COMPUTER-BASED VISION TRAINING BATTERY FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF OTHER VISUAL FUNCTIONS RELEVANT TO COMPLEX VISUAL PERFORMANCE.