Early malnutrition diffusely affects children contrast sensitivity to sine-wave gratings of different spatial frequencies.

Cognitive, behavioral and neurophysiological deficits, associated with malnutrition, are described in the literature. The aim of this study was to evaluate the visual contrast sensitivity in children with early malnutrition, classified according to the anthropometric parameters of Waterlow. Visual contrast sensitivity of 16 boys from 7-10 years old was measured using the staircase psychophysical method, using vertical sine-wave gratings of 0.25, 1.0, 2.0 and 8.0 cycles per degree (cpd) of visual angle. Malnourished children were approximately 3.3, 10.9 and 6.6 times less sensitive to the frequencies of 0.25, 1.0 and 2.0 cpd, respectively, although they were approximately 1.1 times more sensitive to the frequency of 8.0 cpd. It is likely that early malnutrition adversely affected the magnocellular pathway on the one hand, since early malnourished children needed more contrast to detect low and low-to-medium frequencies; on the other hand, early malnutrition did not affect the parvocellular pathway, since there was an increase of sensitivity to the highest frequency.

Sensibilidade ao contraste mesópica de crianças surdas para estímulos radiais e grades senoidais / La sensibilidad al contraste mesópica de los niños sordos para estímulos radiales y rejillas sinusoidales / Mesopic contrast sensitivity of deaf children for radial and sine-wave grating stimuli

O objetivo deste estudo foi medir e comparar as curvas de sensibilidade ao contraste mesópicas para estímulos radiais (FSCr) e grades senoidais (FSC) de 0,25; 0,5; 1 e 2 cpg em crianças surdas de 7 a 12 anos. Mensuramos limiares de contraste para 10 crianças, utilizando o método psicofísico da escolha forçada e luminância média de 0,7 cd/m2. Todos os participantes estavam livres de doenças oculares e apresentavam acuidade visual normal. Os resultados mostraram que a sensibilidade das crianças surdas foi maior para grades senoidais (FSC) do que para estímulos radiais (FSCr). Estes resultados sugerem que os dois estímulos podem ser processados por áreas visuais corticais distintas.

The aim of this work was to measure and compare mesopic contrast sensitivity curves for radial (rCSF) and sine-wave gratings (CSF) stimuli of 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 cpd in deaf children between the ages of 7 to 12 years. We measured the contrast thresholds of 10 children using the psychophysical forced-choice method and mean luminance of 0.7 cd/m2. All participants were free of ocular diseases and had normal acuity. The results showed that contrast sensitivity of the deaf children was higher for sine-wave gratings (CSF) than radial stimuli (rCSF). These results suggest that these two stimuli can be processed by different visual cortical areas.

El objetivo de este estudio fue medir y comparar las curvas de sensibilidad al contraste mesópicas para estímulos radiales (FSCr) y rejillas sinusoidales (FSC) de 0,25; 0,5; 1 y 2 cpg en niños sordos de 7 a 12 años. Medimos los umbrales de contraste en 10 niños, con el método psicofísico de la elección forzada y la luminancia media de 0,7 cd/m2. Todos los participantes estaban libres de enfermedades oculares y presentaban acuidad visual normal. Los resultados mostraron que la sensibilidad de los niños sordos fue mayor para frecuencias espaciales (FSC) que para los estímulos radiales (FSCr). Estos resultados sugieren que los estímulos pueden ser procesados en distintas areas corticales visuales.

Contrast sensitivity function of sine-wave gratings in children with acute malnutrition

The aim of this study was to determine the contrast sensitivity curves of sine-wave gratings with spatial frequencies of 0.25, 1.0, 2.0 and 8.0 cycles per degree (cpd) of visual angle in 16 female subjects aged 7 to 9 years old, eight well-nourished and eight with acute protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). All participants had normal visual acuity and were free of identifiable ocular illness. Contrast threshold was measured using a temporal two-alternative forced-choice psychophysical method, at a distance of 150 cm of the stimuli, binocularly, with mean luminance of 40.1 cd/m2. We detected a general decline in contrast sensitivity for children with acute malnutrition at all spatial frequencies compared to well-nourished children. The malnourished group needed in average 1.37 times more contrast to detect the stimulus in comparison with the well-nourished one. Differences between the groups were statistically significant at all spatial frequencies (p < .001). These results suggest that acute PEM changes the visual perception for sine-wave gratings.

Contrast sensitivity function of sine-wave gratings in children with acute malnutrition

The aim of this study was to determine the contrast sensitivity curves of sine-wave gratings with spatial frequencies of 0.25, 1.0, 2.0 and 8.0 cycles per degree (cpd) of visual angle in 16 female subjects aged 7 to 9 years old, eight well-nourished and eight with acute protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). All participants had normal visual acuity and were free of identifiable ocular illness. Contrast threshold was measured using a temporal two-alternative forced-choice psychophysical method, at a distance of 150 cm of the stimuli, binocularly, with mean luminance of 40.1 cd/m2. We detected a general decline in contrast sensitivity for children with acute malnutrition at all spatial frequencies compared to well-nourished children. The malnourished group needed in average 1.37 times more contrast to detect the stimulus in comparison with the well-nourished one. Differences between the groups were statistically significant at all spatial frequencies (p < .001). These results suggest that acute PEM changes the visual perception for sine-wave gratings.(AU)

Sensibilidade ao contraste mesópica de crianças surdas para estímulos radiais e grades senoidais / Mesopic contrast sensitivity of deaf children for radial and sine-wave grating stimuli

O objetivo deste estudo foi medir e comparar as curvas de sensibilidade ao contraste mesópicas para estímulos radiais (FSCr) e grades senoidais (FSC) de 0,25; 0,5; 1 e 2 cpg em crianças surdas de 7 a 12 anos. Mensuramos limiares de contraste para 10 crianças, utilizando o método psicofísico da escolha forçada e luminância média de 0,7 cd/m2. Todos os participantes estavam livres de doenças oculares e apresentavam acuidade visual normal. Os resultados mostraram que a sensibilidade das crianças surdas foi maior para grades senoidais (FSC) do que para estímulos radiais (FSCr). Estes resultados sugerem que os dois estímulos podem ser processados por áreas visuais corticais distintas.(AU)

The aim of this work was to measure and compare mesopic contrast sensitivity curves for radial (rCSF) and sine-wave gratings (CSF) stimuli of 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 cpd in deaf children between the ages of 7 to 12 years. We measured the contrast thresholds of 10 children using the psychophysical forced-choice method and mean luminance of 0.7 cd/m2. All participants were free of ocular diseases and had normal acuity. The results showed that contrast sensitivity of the deaf children was higher for sine-wave gratings (CSF) than radial stimuli (rCSF). These results suggest that these two stimuli can be processed by different visual cortical areas.(AU)

El objetivo de este estudio fue medir y comparar las curvas de sensibilidad al contraste mesópicas para estímulos radiales (FSCr) y rejillas sinusoidales (FSC) de 0,25; 0,5; 1 y 2 cpg en niños sordos de 7 a 12 años. Medimos los umbrales de contraste en 10 niños, con el método psicofísico de la elección forzada y la luminancia media de 0,7 cd/m2. Todos los participantes estaban libres de enfermedades oculares y presentaban acuidad visual normal. Los resultados mostraron que la sensibilidad de los niños sordos fue mayor para frecuencias espaciales (FSC) que para los estímulos radiales (FSCr). Estos resultados sugieren que los estímulos pueden ser procesados en distintas areas corticales visuales.(AU)