Optimizing Vision reHABilition with virtual-reality games in paediatric amblyopia

To reach for a bottle (motor), we need to be able to identify its properties (attention) and know where in space it is located (3-dimensional (3D) vision). This cascade is however impaired in some developmental disorders of vision, like Paediatric Amblyopia (PA) or lazy eye.

With this proposal, I first aim to gain insights in the underlying deficits of PA, by combining expertise from the vision sciences, cognition and motor control research fields.

These insights will provide a deeper understanding of the core deficits of children with PA, and their inter-relationship.

I will put specific emphasis on the study of 3D vision and its impact on selective attention and motor planning, as these have previously been understudied, despite their clear impact on vision and potential coexistence in PA.

Second, I aim to test the efficiency of a novel, ethological, and engaging 3D games in a virtual reality environment to improve vision in children with PA.

Thirdly, I will examine whether the improvements on vision are accompanied by changes in attention and motor control and which are the underlying brain mechanisms of such improvements.

Lastly, by using artificial intelligence approaches on treatment outcome, I will be able to provide guidelines toward a personalized medicine tailored to the patient’s needs.

To succeed in this project, I will (i) combine measures of the traditional basic vision tests with novel functional vision evaluation, (ii) quantify uni- and multisensory selective attention with behavioural and brain imaging (electrical neuroimaging) methods, (iii) integrate sensor-based measures of motor planning during reaching, (iv) develop a novel, efficient and ethological virtual reality training to recover 3D vision in children with PA.

This project will accumulate clinically relevant results that will be disseminated to the scientific community and communicated to the clinicians and the children’s families through a variety of activities.