Global contour processing in amblyopia.

The purpose of the experiments described here was to investigate global image processing using methods that require global processing while eliminating or compensating for low level abnormalities: visibility, shape perception and positional uncertainty. In order to accomplish this we used a closed figure made up of Gabor patches either in noise or on a blank field. The stimuli were circular or elliptical contours, formed by N equally spaced Gabor patches. We performed two separate experiments: In one experiment we fixed N and varied the aspect ratio using a staircase to determine the threshold aspect ratio; in the second experiment we held the aspect ratio constant (at twice the threshold aspect ratio) and varied N in order to measure the threshold number of elements required to judge the shape. Our results confirm and extend previous studies showing that humans with naturally occurring amblyopia show deficits in contour processing. Our results show that the deficits depend strongly on spatial scale (target size and spatial frequency). The deficit in global contour processing is substantially greater in noise (where contour-linking is required) than on a blank field. The magnitude of the deficits is modest when low-level deficits (reduced visibility, increased positional uncertainty, and abnormal shape perception) are minimized, and does not seem to depend much on acuity, crowding or stereoacuity. The residual deficits reported here cannot be simply ascribed to reduced visibility or increased positional uncertainty, and we therefore conclude that these are genuine deficits in global contour segregation and integration.