We evaluated the accommodative response to a stimulus moving from 0 to 6 D following a staircase function under natural, corrected, and induced optical aberrations, using an adaptive-optics (AO) electromagnetic deformable mirror. The accommodative response of the eye (through the mirror) and the change of aberrations were measured on 5 subjects using a Hartmann–Shack wavefront sensor operating at 12.8 Hz. Five conditions were tested: (1) natural aberrations, (2) AO correction of the unaccommodated state and induction (over 6-mm pupils) of (3) +1 μm and (4) −1 μm of spherical aberration and (5) −2 μm of vertical coma. Four subjects showed a better accommodative response with AO correction than with their natural aberrations. The induction of negative spherical aberration also produced a better accommodative response in the same subjects. Accommodative lag increased in all subjects when positive spherical aberration and coma were induced. Fluctuations of the accommodative response (computed during each 1-D period of steady accommodation) increased with accommodative response when high-order aberrations were induced. The largest fluctuations occurred for induced negative spherical aberration and the smallest for natural and corrected aberrations. The study demonstrates that aberrations influence accommodative lag and fluctuations of accommodation and that correcting aberrations improves rather than compromises the accommodative response.

We evaluated the visual benefit of correcting astigmatism and high-order aberrations with adaptive optics (AO) on visual acuity (VA) measured at 7 different luminances (ranging from 0.8 to 50 cd/m²) and two contrast polarities (black letters on white background, BoW, and white letters on black background, WoB) on 7 subjects. For the BoW condition, VA increased with background luminance in both natural and AO-corrected conditions, and there was a benefit of AO correction at all luminances (by a factor of 1.29 on average across luminances). For WoB VA increased with foreground luminance but decreased for the highest luminances. In this reversed polarity condition AO correction increased VA by a factor of 1.13 on average and did not produce a visual benefit at high luminances. The improvement of VA (averaged across conditions) was significantly correlated ( p = 0.04) with the amount of corrected aberrations (in terms of Strehl ratio). The improved performance with WoB targets with respect to BoW targets is decreased when correcting aberrations, suggesting a role of ocular aberrations in the differences in visual performance between contrast polarities.

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.

The visual system adjusts to changes in the environment, as well as to changes within the observer, adapting continuously to maintain a match between visual coding and visual environment. We evaluated whether the perception of oriented blur is biased by the native astigmatism, and studied the time course of the after-effects following spectacle correction of astigmatism in habitually non-corrected astigmats. We tested potential shifts of the perceptual judgments of blur orientation in 21 subjects. The psychophysical test consisted on a single interval orientation identification task in order to measure the perceived isotropic point (astigmatism level for which the image did not appear oriented to the subject) from images artificially blurred with constant blur strength (B = 1.5 D), while modifying the orientation of the blur according to the axis of natural astigmatism of the subjects. Measurements were performed after neutral (gray field) adaptation on naked eyes under full correction of low and high order aberrations. Longitudinal measurements (up to 6 months) were performed in three groups of subjects: non-astigmats and corrected and uncorrected astigmats. Uncorrected astigmats were provided with proper astigmatic correction immediately after the first session. Non-astigmats did not show significant bias in their perceived neutral point, while in astigmatic subjects the perceived neutral point was significantly biased, typically towards their axis of natural astigmatism. Previously uncorrected astigmats shifted significantly their perceived neutral point towards more isotropic images shortly (2 hours) after astigmatic correction wear, and, once stabilized, remained constant after 6 months. The shift of the perceived neutral point after correction of astigmatism was highly correlated with the amount of natural astigmatism. Non-corrected astigmats appear to be naturally adapted to their astigmatism, and astigmatic correction significantly changes their perception of their neutral point, even after a brief period of adaptation.

The image formed by the eye's optics is inherently blurred by aberrations specific to an individual's eyes. We examined how visual coding is adapted to the optical quality of the eye. We assessed the relationship between perceived blur and the retinal image blur resulting from high order aberrations in an individual's optics. Observers judged perceptual blur in a psychophysical two-alternative forced choice paradigm, on stimuli viewed through perfectly corrected optics (using a deformable mirror to compensate for the individual's aberrations). Realistic blur of different amounts and forms was computer simulated using real aberrations from a population. The blur levels perceived as best focused were close to the levels predicted by an individual's high order aberrations over a wide range of blur magnitudes, and were systematically biased when observers were instead adapted to the blur reproduced from a different observer's eye. Our results provide strong evidence that spatial vision is calibrated for the specific blur levels present in each individual's retinal image and that this adaptation at least partly reflects how spatial sensitivity is normalized in the neural coding of blur.

A spatial shift between channels in a dual-beam raster-scan imaging system introduces a temporal separation between images from the two channels that can be much shorter than the frame rate of the system. The technique is demonstrated by measuring the velocity of erythrocytes in the retinal capillaries. We used an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope and introduced a temporal separation between imaging channels of 4.7 ms. We imaged three subjects and measured changing capillary blood flow velocity at the pulse rate. Since the time shift between channels is easily and continuously adjustable, this method can be used to measure rapidly changing events in any raster scan system with little added complexity.