Purpose To examine the impact on visual acuity of different aberrations modes (e.g. coma, astigmatism, spherical aberration (SA)) and different aberration basis functions (Zernike or Seidel). Methods Computational optics was used to generate retinal images degraded by either the Zernike or Seidel forms of 2nd through 4th order aberrations for an eye with a 5mm pupil diameter. High contrast, photopic visual acuity was measured using method of constant stimuli for letters displayed on a computer-controlled, linearized, quasi-monochromatic (λ=556 nm) display. Results Minimum angle of resolution (MAR) varied linearly with the magnitude (root mean square error, RMS) of all modes of aberration. The impact of individual Zernike lower and higher order aberrations (HOAs) varied significantly with mode, e.g. arc minutes of MAR/micron of RMS slopes varied from 7 (spherical defocus) to 0.5 (quadrafoil). Seidel forms of these aberrations always had a smaller visual impact. Notably, Seidel spherical aberration (SA) had 1/17th the impact of Zernike SA with the same wavefront variance, and about 1/4th the impact of Zernike SA with matching levels of r4 wavefront error. With lower order components removed, HOAs near the center of the Zernike pyramid do not have a large visual impact. Conclusions The majority of the visual impact of high levels of 4th order Zernike aberrations can be attributed to the 2nd order terms within these polynomials. Therefore, the impact of SA can be minimized by balancing it with a defocus term that flattens the central wavefront (paraxial focus) or maximizes the area of the pupil with a flat wavefront. Over this wide range of aberration types and levels, image quality metrics based upon the PSF and OTF can predict VA as reliably as VA measures can predict retests of VA, and thus such metrics may become valuable predictors of both VA and, via optimization, refractions.
Adapting to blurred or sharpened images alters the perceived focus of subsequently viewed images. We examined whether these adaptation effects could arise from actual sphero-cylindrical refractive errors, by testing aftereffects in images simulating second-order astigmatism. Image blur was varied from negative (vertical) through isotropic to positive (horizontal) astigmatism while maintaining constant blur strength. A 2AFC staircase was used to estimate the stimulus that appeared isotropically blurred before or after adapting to images with astigmatism. Adaptation to horizontal blur caused isotropically blurred images to appear vertically biased and vice versa, shifting the perceived isotropic point toward the adapting level. Aftereffects were similar for different types of images and showed partial selectivity so that strongest effects generally occurred when testing and adapting images were the same. Further experiments explored whether the adaptation depended more strongly on the blurring or “fuzziness” in the images vs. the apparent “figural” changes introduced by the blur, by comparing how the aftereffects transfer across changes in size or orientation. Our results suggest that strong selective adaptation can occur for different lower order aberrations of the eye and that these may be at least partly driven by the apparent figural changes that blurring introduces into the retinal image.
Although the retinal image is typically polychromatic, few studies have examined polychromatic image quality in the human eye. We begin with a conceptual framework including the formulation of a psychophysical linking hypothesis that underlies the utility of image quality metrics based on the polychromatic point-spread function. We then outline strategies for computing polychromatic point-spread functions of the eye when monochromatic aberrations are known for only a single wavelength. Implementation problems and solutions for this strategy are described. Polychromatic image quality is largely unaffected by wavelength-dependent diffraction and higher-order chromatic aberration. However, accuracy is found to depend critically upon spectral sampling. Using typical aberrations from the Indiana Aberration Study, we assessed through-focus image quality for model eyes with and without chromatic aberrations using a polychromatic metric called the visual Strehl ratio. In the presence of typical levels of monochromatic aberrations, the effect of longitudinal chromatic aberration is greatly reduced. The effect of typical levels of transverse chromatic aberration is virtually eliminated in the presence of longitudinal chromatic aberration and monochromatic aberrations. Clinical value and limitations of the method are discussed.
We provide the first measures of foveal cone density as a function of axial length in living eyes and discuss the physical and visual implications of our findings. We used a new generation Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope to image cones at and near the fovea in 28 eyes of 16 subjects. Cone density and other metrics were computed in units of visual angle and linear retinal units. The foveal cone mosaic in longer eyes is expanded at the fovea, but not in proportion to eye length. Despite retinal stretching (decrease in cones/mm2), myopes generally have a higher angular sampling density (increase in cones/deg2) in and around the fovea compared to emmetropes, offering the potential for better visual acuity. Reports of deficits in best-corrected foveal vision in myopes compared to emmetropes cannot be explained by increased spacing between photoreceptors caused by retinal stretching during myopic progression.
No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.
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