Presentation Information
[O2-06]Performance of late-sighted children on the temporal order judgement task
*Lukas Vogelsang1, Priti Gupta2, Marin Vogelsang1, Naviya Lall2, Manvi Jain2, Chetan Ralekar1, Suma Ganesh2, Pawan Sinha1 (1. MIT (United States of America), 2. Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital (India))
Keywords:
temporal order judgements,simultaneity,late sight onset,congenital blindness,temporal processing
Determining whether visual events occur simultaneously or sequentially critically impacts perceptual inference. Simultaneity has been shown to aid object discovery, a capacity essential for newborns in making sense of their sensory environment. Here, we examined whether early visual experience is necessary to acquire temporal order judgment capabilities in the visual domain. To this end, we studied individuals with prolonged visual deprivation due to congenital cataracts who received sight-restoring surgeries later in childhood. We examined two groups: 15 late-sighted individuals assessed several years after surgery, and 13 tested pre-operatively, then one week and one month post-operatively. Additionally, 22 normally sighted, approximately blur-matched controls completed the same experiment. Participants indicated which of two briefly presented visual bars appeared first, with temporal gaps between 17 and 500ms. The results reveal that, several years post-surgery, late-sighted participants performed comparably to controls. However, performance one week and one month following surgery was indistinguishable from pre-operative levels and remained significantly below that of the long-term follow-up group. Thus, proficiency in temporal judgments develops gradually with continued visual exposure. The data also suggest that the mechanism of time-based binding may contribute to the visual learning that the late-sighted undergo. Taken together, these findings reveal that early experience is not critical for acquiring temporal order judgment capabilities and highlight the feasibility of acquiring such capabilities despite early-onset, prolonged visual deprivation. This indicates that neural plasticity for developing this ability remains available into late childhood, with important implications for understanding temporal processing, perceptual organization, and rehabilitation prospects for children treated for early blindness.