Virtual Reality Based Assessment of Static Object Visual Search in Ocular Compared to Cerebral Visual Impairment

A pilot study of the Austin Playing Card Assessment: A tool to detect and find the degree of visual perceptual difficulties related to clutter

“…Almost all the research group, but none of the control group, had difficulty with either matching the pairs correctly, mixing the 6s and 9s, having difficulty with finding the pairs for the picture cards and an inability to match all the pairs, especially as the numbers of cards on the table increased. This also accords with the work of Zihl & Dutton (2015) and Bennett et al (2018), who show that children with visual perceptual difficulties find it more difficult to complete a vision-dependent activity as the amount of visual information increases. With the Austin Playing Card Assessment, this phenomenon was especially notable when there were 12 cards.…”

“…Again, this is in line with the work of Zihl (Zihl & Dutton, 2015), who found that the children with known visual difficulties used an increased number of darting eye movements compared with the children with no difficulties. This finding supports the work of Bennett et al (2018), who found in their virtual reality (VR) toy box test that the children with visual perceptual difficulties had longer search patterns and reduced focus on the target than the control children, which was evident by an increased number of darting eye movements.…”

“…Therefore, to establish effective methods for assessing these kinds of visual difficulties, more needs to be understood about their manifestations and the kinds of environments that exacerbate them. Recent research by Josef Zihl (outlined in a study by Zihl and Dutton (2015)), Bennett et al (2018), and Goodale and Milner (2013) has identified key features of visual perceptual difficulties, including random search patterns using darting eye movements (quick, repetitive shifts of gaze to different locations in the visual field), increased search times (especially as the complexity increases), decrease in performance when the number of objects and distractions increase, and slower and more inaccurate reaching and grasping of objects. Research by Little and Dutton (2014) and McDowell and Budd (2018) has also shown that cluttered and noisy environments where there is an overload of visual and auditory information, as well as constant movement of others can negatively impact on visual and overall functioning of children with more severe CVI.…”

“…To identify and support the growing number of children with visual perceptual difficulties, low cost, simple, effective, and practical methods for detecting and categorising these issues warrant development. Such methods need to detect whether or not the child demonstrates a number of indicators of visual perceptual difficulties, including darting eye movements, slower processing of the visual scene with increasing complexity (Bennett et al, 2018; Zihl & Dutton, 2015), difficulties with visually guided movement (optic ataxia) (Bennett et al, 2018; Goodale & Milner, 2013), and whether the child is easily distracted by visual and auditory clutter and movement of others (Little & Dutton, 2014; McDowell & Budd, 2018). They also need to be applied in real-world situations, as opposed to clinical settings, to develop an accurate picture of the child’s visual abilities.…”

Effects of Transient Loss of Vision on Head and Eye Movements during Visual Search in a Virtual Environment

“…This shows that there can be a strong effect of vision loss and at the same time a pursuit of a task goal (exploration), both dependent on different elements of the visuo-motor system. Further work on the topic of visual search in virtual reality could be beneficial to the quality of life of patients suffering from visual field deficits [ 97 , 98 , 99 ] for example, by recommending efficient search strategies based on the remaining useful field of view.…”