Current Research

Background

Amblyopia (lazy eye) is a condition that negatively affects the vision of around 3% of people , and is characterized by “a significant deficit in visual acuity (generally 2 lines of an acuity letter chart)” in at least one of the eyes. Although the mechanisms that underlie amblyopia are not fully understood, it is considered “a neuronal abnormality of vision that is often considered irreversible in adults” . While the main treatment approach for children with amblyopia, the occlusion of the dominant eye for several hours each day, is shown to modestly improve their vision , similar treatments are not nearly as effective for adults. This difference is often accounted for by lower levels of brain plasticity in adults following a “critical period” during childhood . Recent studies, however, have shown that this window may be reopened through pharmacological means in rats , giving hope to humans.

Such pharmacological means, however, have yet to be backed by evidence in human adults and also depend on controlled, addiction-forming substances. A possible, yet-to-be explored alternative may be found in the practice of meditation. A recently trending topic in psychology, meditation has been shown to be related to long-lasting changes in both brain structure and as an effective alternative to drug-based treatments for disorders such as depression . Challenges with studying meditation, however, “include the characterization of different signatures of brain function that distinguish among different meditation practices, the parsing of variance in brain activity that may be due to changes in peripheral physiology such as respiration, and the simultaneous measurement of electrical and hemodynamic signals to harness the best temporal and spatial resolution possible.”

Proposed Study

Using a combination of magnetoencephalography and established mathematical analytical methods , we shall measure and calculate brain activity profiles of subjects with and without amblyopia, as well as use standard procedures to evaluate their eyesight. We shall then characterize the activity patterns of amblyopia using artificial intelligence techniques, exploring the effectiveness of neural nets, diffusion maps and self-organizing maps in building a cognitive model. We shall then compare this against activity data (either pre-existing or measured in the same way as above) associated with various meditation practices to identify which, if any, activate the regions relevant to amblyopia. Afterward, we shall attempt an interventional study with both the amblyopia and control groups to see if instruction in these relevant techniques produces any significant improvement compared to their pre-trial eyesight.

Goals

The proposed study will not only contribute to fundamental understanding of the neurological mechanisms of both amblyopia and meditation, but further evaluate meditation as a feasible treatment for amblyopia in various age groups.