Amblyopia is the most common cause of vision loss in children. In all cases of amblyopia, there’s a stronger eye and a weaker eye, and it’s winner-take-all in the cortex (大脑皮层). The cortex learns to ignore the sign al from the weaker eye. By ignoring the weaker eye, the brain doesn’t fuse (融合) images from both eyes. As a result, people with amblyopia can have trouble seeing in 3D.
In an attempt to solve this problem, doctors start treating patients with amblyopia at a young age, while their brain pathways are still developing. The children, usually under 7 years old, are often told to wear an eye patch over their strong eye to force the brain to rely on the weaker. But whenever the eye pa tech is removed, the competition can start over. For lasting improvement, new treatments need to teach the brain to stop suppressing (抑制) key visual cues coming from the weaker eye, says neuroscientist Dennis Levi of the University of California.
Now, several research teams are taking a new way that aims to get the brain to make better use of the information coming from both eyes. Several companies are working on treatment s based on this new angle. One is called Luminopia.
Luminopia’s therapy involves having children watch videos through a virtual reality headset. As the children watch, the headset blocks out certain parts of the display for each eye, so the patients actually have to combine input from the two images to get the full video.
The company conducted a trial showing that children with amblyopia begin to see better on eye chart assessments after three months of one-hour sessions done six days a week. But they have yet to measure improvements in long-term effectiveness. It is believed that if people with amblyopia don’t learn to fuse signals from both eyes from a young age, they never will. So some scientists think attempting to treat adults, whose brains have suppressed signals from their weak eye for decades, is a lost cause.
【小题1】Why does a person with amblyopia have trouble seeing in 3D?A.His brain is unable to receive images. | B.His weaker eye fails to receive signals. |
C.His stronger eye can't send signals to the brain. | D.His cortex overlooks signals from the weaker eye. |
A.Temporary. | B.Ineffective. | C.Wonderful. | D.Comprehensive. |
A.Forcing the brain to rely on the weaker eye. |
B.Activating the weak eye to get the full video. |
C.Improving the situations with eye chart assessments. |
D.Blocking out the images received from the stronger eye. |
A.It has an instant effect. | B.Adults are its main targets. |
C.It has long-term effectiveness. | D.More trials need to be conducted. |