An Active Approach to Treat Amblyopia: Video Game Play

May 14, 2016 updated by: Roger Winghong Li, University of California, Berkeley

Does Video Game Play Induce Plasticity in the Visual System of Adults With Amblyopia?

Amblyopia, a developmental abnormality that impairs spatial vision, is a major cause of vision loss, resulting in reduced visual acuity and reduced sensitivity to contrast. This study uses psychophysical measures to study neural plasticity in adults with amblyopia.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Amblyopia, a developmental abnormality that impairs spatial vision, is a major cause of vision loss, resulting in reduced visual acuity and reduced sensitivity to contrast. Our previous findings (see CITATIONS) show that the adult amblyopic brain is still plastic and malleable, suggesting that active approach is potential useful in treating amblyopia. The goal of this project is to assess the limits and mechanisms of neural plasticity in amblyopic spatial vision. This study uses psychophysical measures to study neural plasticity in adults with amblyopia. Research participants will be asked to play video games with the amblyopic eye for a period of time. A range of visual functions will be monitored during the course of treatment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • California
      • Berkeley, California, United States, 94720
        • Minor Hall 486, School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

5 years to 75 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults with amblyopia (Age >15 years)
  • Amblyopia: interocular visual acuity difference of at least 0.1 logMAR
  • All forms of amblyopia: Strabismic, anisometropic, refractive, deprivative, meridional amblyopia

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Any ocular pathological conditions (eg macula abnormalities, glaucoma), nystagmus

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: CROSSOVER
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Perceptual learning
Research participants will be asked to practice a visual discrimination task (e.g. position acuity, contrast sensitivity, stereoacuity etc) in our laboratory for a period of time (2 hrs/day, 5 days/week).
Other Names:
  • vision therapy
  • vision training
EXPERIMENTAL: Video Game
Research participants will be asked to play "off-the-shelf" video games in our laboratory for a period of time (2 hrs/day, 5 days/week).
Other Names:
  • vision therapy
  • vision training
EXPERIMENTAL: Occlusion Therapy

Phase 1. Research participants will be required to cover the good eye during the day in order to push the brain to use the amblyopic eye (2 hrs/day, 5 days/week for 2-4 weeks).

Phase 2. Research participants will be required to cover the good eye during the day in order to push the brain to use the amblyopic eye (2 hrs/day, 5 days/week for 2-4 weeks).

Other Names:
  • vision therapy
  • vision training

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Amblyopic vision
Time Frame: 9 months
Improvement in amblyopic vision : visual acuity and stereoacuity
9 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Spatial vision
Time Frame: 9 months
Improvement in spatial vision (positional acuity and spatial attention)
9 months
Temporal vision
Time Frame: 9 months
Improvement in temporal processing and temporal vision (attentional blink)
9 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

December 1, 2004

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

December 1, 2009

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

December 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 18, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 18, 2010

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

October 19, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

May 17, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 14, 2016

Last Verified

May 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Amblyopia

Clinical Trials on Perceptual learning

Subscribe