Abstract

The human visual system is capable of discriminating incremental changes as small as 3-4 ms in the time of onset of two lines presented foveally with a temporal asynchrony of 30-40 ms.¹ We have measured foveal temporal asynchrony discrimination in amblyopic observers. The amblyopic fovea, like the normal peripheral retina, exhibits elevated temporal discrimination thresholds relative to the normal fovea when short (10-60-ms) asynchronies are presented. However, the amblyopic fovea is less sensitive to temporal asynchronies than is the normal peripheral retina (20° eccentricity). In addition, the temporal deficit of the amblyopic fovea is not a consequence of reduced spatial resolution. These findings suggest that the amblyopic fovea is not comparable to the normal peripheral retina in all respects. The amblyopic fovea is limited not only in its spatial resolution but also in its ability to discriminate small temporal changes.

© 1985 Optical Society of America