These results suggest that a history of strabismus and a deep amblyopia are more likely to be associated with temporal misperceptions than a refractive etiology and a mild acuity loss. A temporally unstable perception may be related to a more profound disorganization of the central neural pathways connected to the amblyopic eye.

The aim of this study was to investigate the spatial and temporal distortions that occur in strabismic and anisometropic amblyopic vision. Twelve subjects with strabismic (n = 4), anisometropic (n = 4), mixed amblyopia (n = 3) and bilateral refractive amblyopia (n = 1) were asked to describe and sketch their subjective percept of different geometrical patterns, as seen with their amblyopic eye. Based on their descriptions, computer-animated patterns were generated, which were then validated by the subjects. Both spatial distortions and temporal instability were perceived mainly by strabismic and strabismic-anisometropic amblyopes. Temporal instability occurred mainly at high spatial frequencies. Our data suggest that strabismus, in addition to amblyopia, is needed to elicit significant spatial and temporal distortions. The occurrence of these distortions may be related to the early history of each subject.

Amblyopia is a developmental disorder of spatial vision resulting from an abnormal visual stimulation in early childhood. The aim of our study was to investigate the spatial and temporal distortions that occur in strabismic and anisometropic amblyopic vision. The main focus was on the temporal instability of amblyopic perception of low and high spatial frequencies. Our results indicate that temporal instability is perceived mainly by strabismic and strabismic-anisometropic amblyopes and occurs only at high spatial frequencies. We found two categories of temporal distortions in high spatial frequency patterns: a) the whole pattern is perceived as jittering, b) single lines or parts in a pattern are perceived as moving. Our data suggest that strabismus, in addition to amblyopia, is needed to elicit significant temporal distortions.