Mechanism of crowding in nystagmus

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    The selectivity and mechanisms underlying visual crowding in idiopathic nystagmus

  • IRAS ID

    264498

  • Contact name

    John Greenwood

  • Contact email

    john.greenwood@ucl.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    UCL Joint Research Office

  • ISRCTN Number

    ISRCTN00000000

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    NCT00000000

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    NA, NA

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    2 years, 0 months, 5 days

  • Research summary

    Congenital nystagmus is a visual disorder characterised by involuntary eye movements, with associated deficits in visual acuity. Another associated visual function that has been found to be impaired is visual crowding - a phenomenon where objects that are visible in isolation become indistinguishable in clutter. Crowding occurs in the peripheral vision of normally sighted individuals. One theory that describes visual crowding is the compulsory integration theory, which proposes that crowding arises when information from target and flankers are integrated due to stimulation of the same large receptive fields. Our aim is to examine whether nystagmic crowding shares a common mechanism with crowding in the peripheral vision of normal sighted people. We will test this possibility by examining whether the properties of nystagmic crowding match those of the unaffected periphery. In doing so we aim to determine both how and why this process affects nystagmic vision.

  • REC name

    North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    19/NW/0533

  • Date of REC Opinion

    17 Sep 2019

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion