Vision Loss Impact on Navigation in Virtual Reality

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Hemianopsia, Homonymous; Stroke Hemorrhagic; Quadrantanopia; Hemianopia, Homonymous; Hemianopia; Hemianopsia; Occipital Lobe Infarct; Vision Loss Partial; Stroke, Ischemic; Quadrantanopsia
• Interventions: Other: Virtual Reality Driving Task

• Registration Number: NCT06047717
• Lead Sponsor: University of Rochester

Brief Summary

The purpose of this research is to better understand the impact of cortically-induced blindness (CB) and the compensatory strategies subjects with this condition may develop on naturalistic behaviors, specifically, driving. Using a novel Virtual Reality (VR) program, the researchers will gather data on steering behavior in a variety of simulated naturalistic environments. Through the combined use of computer vision, deep learning, and gaze-contingent manipulations of the visual field, this work will test the central hypothesis that changes to visually guided steering behaviors in CB are a consequence of changes to the visual sampling and processing of task-related motion information (i.e., optic flow).

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2023-09-08
• Study First Submitted QC: 2023-09-18
• Study First Posted: 2023-09-21
• Study Start: 2023-11-28
• Status Verified: 2024-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-11-11
• Last Update Posted: 2024-11-13
• Primary Completion: 2026-10
• Study Completion: 2026-10

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 40

Inclusion Criteria

• Residents of the United States or Canada
• Presence of one-sided stroke or stroke-like damage to primary visual cortex or its immediate afferent white matter sustained within the specified age range of 21 - 75 years (verified by MRI and/or CT scans)
• Reliable visual field defects in both eyes (homonymous defects) as measured by Humphrey or equivalent perimetry.
• Willing, able, and competent to provide their own informed consent
• Cognitively able, responsible to understand written and oral instructions in English
• Emmetropic or else wear corrective contact lenses inside the virtual reality headset

Exclusion Criteria

• Those who have never driven or earned a drivers' license
• Past or present ocular disease interfering with visual acuity
• Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) worse than 20/40 in either eye
• Sustained damage to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus
• Presence of diffuse, whole-brain degenerative processes
• Presence of brain damage deemed by study staff to potentially interfere with outcome measures
• History of traumatic brain injury
• Documented history of drug/alcohol abuse
• Diagnosis of cognitive or seizure disorders
• Diagnosis of one-sided attentional neglect

Control Group:

Inclusion Criteria:

• Normal or corrected-to-normal vision, who are between the ages of 21 and 75 years of age, roughly matched to the age of CB subjects enrolled above
• Competent and responsible, as determined by the Principal Investigator
• Willing, able, and competent to provide their own informed consent
• Normal cognitive abilities, be able to understand written and oral instructions in English
• Emmetropic or else wear corrective contact lenses inside the virtual reality headset

Exclusion Criteria:

• Subjects who have never driven or earned a drivers' license
• BCVA worse than 20/40 in either eye
• Presence of vision loss from ocular diseases or disorders
• Presence of a visual field defect
• Inability to wear corrective contact lenses inside the virtual reality helmet if required to see clearly
• Subjects with a history of neurological disorders
• Subjects with a history of TBI
• Persons who lack the competence or are otherwise unable to perform the visual testing as directed.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Virtual Reality (VR) Driving Task: Cortically Blind Cohort	Virtual Reality Driving Task	Persons who have sustained cortical blindness will perform a driving task in VR, in which they must steer through a series of parameterized turns while maintaining their virtual vehicle centered between the two red lines delineating the "road" edge.
Virtual Reality (VR) Driving Task: Healthy Control Cohort	Virtual Reality Driving Task	Healthy controls with no vision loss will perform a driving task in VR, in which they must steer through a series of parameterized turns while maintaining their virtual vehicle centered between the two red lines delineating the "road" edge.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Virtual Reality (VR) Lane Deviation / Offset	Day 0	Virtual lane offset is a measure of driving accuracy, which involves computing the divergence (in virtual meters) from the center of the single-lane virtual roadway, relative to the position of the driver's head and averaged over the duration of each turn. The researchers will compare the variance of lane offset in virtual meters between Cortically Blind (CB) and control subjects.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Rochester; 🇺🇸 Rochester, New York, United States