MONOCULAR CONTRIBUTION TO THE PEAK TIME OF THE BINOCULAR PATTERN VISUAL-EVOKED POTENTIAL

The contribution of each monocular pathway to the timing of the binocu lar pattern visual evoked potential was assessed in situations where a significant interocular timing discrepancy was observed. Monocular an d binocular pattern visual evoked potentials to 0.5 degrees checks wer e recorded from normal subjects, normal subjects in whom one eye was b lurred, patients with monocular amblyopia, and patients with resolved unilateral optic neuritis. Normal subjects showed facilitation, while suppression was evidenced in subjects with monocular blurring. In pati ents with amblyopia, the affected pathway had no effect on binocular p attern visual evoked potential latency, suggesting that the amblyopic eye was suppressed. In contrast, all patients with optic neuritis show ed binocular averaging. Our results show that different forms of binoc ular interaction are evidenced in normal subjects, in amblyopia and in optic neuritis, and suggest that a comparative analysis of monocular and binocular pattern visual evoked potential. peak times brings valua ble information to the clinical evaluation that could be used to disti nguish disease processes further.