EXPERIMENT: VISION

GIO: Understand some characteristics of vision MATERIALS: penlight, perimeter, stimulus patch, color vision tests, visual acuity tests, pin-hole sheet of paper, cardboard, pencil and ruler PROCEDURE:

A. LIGHT AND ACCOMMODATION REFLEXES 1. Direct light reflex

Using a penlight, throw a beam of light into the subjects eye. Note the size of the pupil. Repeat but observe the pupillary reaction of the other eye. 2. Consensual light reflex Place a cardboard vertically in between the eyes to screen one eye from the other. Flash a light into the right eye taking care that no light enters the left eye. Observe the pupil of the left eye. 3. Observe the size of the pupil as the subject fixes his gaze at a distant object. Then let him gaze at a very close object. Note the change in size of the pupils.

B. VISUAL ACUITY
For both distant and near vision, test the visual acuity of the subject. If the subject is wearing eye glasses, do the examination with and without the glasses. 1. Far vision The subject is seated with his back toward a bright light and at a distance of 6 meters from the Snellen chart. Test each eye separately, covering the other eye not tested. Have the subject read the letters in their proper sequence from top to bottom and from right to left. As the subject reads the letters, check their correctness and note the portion he can accurately see. Record the visual acuity of both eyes. Recording is usually made in the form of fractions: the numerator indicates the distance of the chart from the subject while denominator represents the distance at which a normal person can see the smallest type of letter accurately read by the patient. 2. Near vision The subject is seated so that the light comes over his right shoulder. Hold the test card (Jaegers Chart) 14 inches away from the subject. Test each eye separately, the other eye being covered by a cardboard. Let the subject read aloud the test chart starting with the largest optotypes and proceed to the smaller ones. Note that each paragraph has a corresponding number. The last paragraph which could be read clearly by the eye is recorded as J2 or J4, as the case maybe.

C. COLOR VISION Direction: 1 subject per group, preferably male. Test the subject with the Ishihara Test for color vision. Note: If the above test indicates the subject is color blind, the Holmgren-type Test and Standard Pseudoisochromatic Tests 1&2 will be administered by the instructor.

D. VISUAL PERIMETRY
Direction: 1 volunteer for each laboratory session. Test to be administered by the instructor. The perimeter is used to map the areas of the retina sensitive to stimuli of different colors. Included with the apparatus are stimulus patches of red, yellow, green, blue and white, 1/8 inch square, on a 5/8 inch aluminum disk. The perimeter is constructed in such a manner that measurements can be made of the threshold between regions where the stimulus is and is not discriminated. This is accomplished by having the subject fixate on a central spot (small mirror) while the examiner introduces the stimulus patch by moving it along the arm of the perimeter. The distance of the stimulus from the eye is held constant by moving the stimulus target along the slit opening of the curved metal arm of the perimeter, the eye being located at the center of curvature of the arm. By moving the stimulus along the arm, examiner establishes the boundary between the regions of successful and unsuccessful color discrimination. The spatial position of the threshold is expressed by the angle between the line of fixation and the line from the eye to the threshold. Furthermore, by rotating the perimeter arm about its pivot; threshold measurements along any line radiating out from the center of the visual field can be made; and by moving the stimulus patch inward and outward, threshold measurements for direction of stimulus movement can be made. PROCEDURE: Give the subject a comfortable seat and place cheekbone against back plastic support so that his left eye is directly centered in the fixation mirror. Have subject keep his right eye covered during the experiment. The nine rows of Table 2 show the angular positions of the Perimeter arm at which measurements are to be made. The columns give the hues of the stimulus patches and specify the direction in which examiner must move the stimulus. In order that subject be as naive as possible with regard to the color being used, employ the following table of randomized stimulus sequences.

TABLE 1 A table for examiner to establish the sequence of colors ROW 1 2 3 4 SEQUENCE GYBWR BRWGY YBRWG YWGBR ROW 5 6 7 8 SEQUENCE GYRBW RBGWY BWRYG RGYWB

Choose a row from Table 1, say Row 3, and with the arm set at 0 degrees, present the stimuli in the order shown, i.e., yellow, blue, red, white, green. Present each color twice first moving inward, then outward, beginning with the stimulus patch at the periphery and slowly moving the patch in to the field of vision. The subject must have no foreknowledge of the color for the IN procedure. Tell subject to report aloud and continuously what he sees for example, "nothing, nothing, gray, blue, blue, yellow". When the color is identified, stop and then read and record the angular distance from the center of fixation under IN and yellow in the first row of Table 2. Next administer the OUT trial, starting well within subjects field of color vision, and slowly moving the yellow patch toward the periphery. Again instruct subject to make a continuous oral report. Do not stop movement until subject reports a change in color. After completing the above procedure for the five colors, rotate the metal arm 45 degrees to obtain the data required for the second row of Table 2. The sequence of colors may again be determined by a random selection from Table 1 or you may simply proceed to the next available row returning to Row 1 following completion of Row 8. Table 2 DATA SHEET YELLOW GREEN IN OUT IN OUT

Angle of Rotation 0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360

IN

RED OUT

IN

BLUE OUT

WHITE IN OUT