Interocular Phase Delay Shifts Visual Cortical Dominance: a Potential New Therapeutic Approach for Amblyopia

Amblyopia imparts a delay in visually evoked response (VEP) latency (~5 ms/2 Snellen lines) through the affected eye that neutralizes with successful treatment [1, 2]. The delay in signals reaching the visual cortex may actively preclude visual recovery of the affected eye since delay of synaptic activation tends to weaken visual cortical synapses [3]. Along this line, manipulation of interocular stimulus phase could strengthen the amblyopic eye. To this goal, we hypothesized that introduction of an interocular phase delay would induce plasticity in the visual cortex to shift ocular dominance.