VISUAL-LOSS DURING INTEROCULAR SUPPRESSION IN NORMAL AND STRABISMIC SUBJECTS

Visual acuity was measured in one eye during monocular vision, and whi le the fellow eye viewed stimuli not including the acuity target. The aim was to find how acuity in one eye is reduced by going from monocul ar to binocular viewing. In normal subjects, acuity was at its lowest during the suppressive phase of binocular rivalry, was reduced less wh en the fellow eye viewed a contoured nonrivalrous stimulus, and was no t reduced at all when the stimulus to the fellow eye consisted of a un iformly lit field. In strabismic subjects, by contrast, acuity was mar kedly reduced in going from monocular to binocular viewing no matter w hat stimulus was viewed by the fellow eye. Pathological suppression is therefore largely independent of the inducing stimulus. It was also s hown that acuity in the nonstrabismic eye of some of the strabismic su bjects was improved by allowing the strabismic eye to view; these were the subjects with the greatest depths of ambylopia.