Vision Loss Impact on Navigation in Virtual Reality

NCT06047717 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 00008669
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 40
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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).

Conditions

Hemianopia, Homonymous; Hemianopia; Hemianopsia; Occipital Lobe Infarct; Visual Field Defect, Peripheral; Vision Loss Partial; Quadrantanopsia; Stroke Hemorrhagic; Stroke, Ischemic; Quadrantanopia; Hemianopsia, Homonymous

Keywords

Occipital stroke; Vision loss after stroke; Vision recovery; Vision restoration; Partial vision loss; Homonymous quadrantanopsia; Homonymous quadrantanopia; stroke

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Virtual Reality (VR) Lane Deviation / Offset

  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.

  Day 0

Study Arms (2)

Virtual Reality (VR) Driving Task: Cortically Blind Cohort

EXPERIMENTAL

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.

Other: Virtual Reality Driving Task

Virtual Reality (VR) Driving Task: Healthy Control Cohort

EXPERIMENTAL

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.

Other: Virtual Reality Driving Task

Interventions

Virtual Reality Driving Task OTHER

Participants will steer a virtual car with the goal of staying in the center of a single-lane roadway while traveling at a constant speed of 26.6 m/s (approximately 60 miles/hr). The roadway alternates between a series of straights and turns of different radii to both the left and the right. This allows for careful control of task difficulty, and for the repeated presentation of specific conditions across multiple "trials" (i.e. turns in the road) in a randomized order. In addition, the density of the visual texture elements in the virtual environment that provide optic flow (OF) signal is also varied. The low-density OF condition has no road texture or foliage, and only the solid road edges on a flat-black ground plane. The medium-density OF condition has sparse textural elements distributed on the ground plane, and the high-density OF condition has high density road texture and a canopy of road-side trees that provide texture extending far above the horizon.

Virtual Reality (VR) Driving Task: Cortically Blind Cohort; Virtual Reality (VR) Driving Task: Healthy Control Cohort

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 21 Years - 75 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• 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

You may not qualify if:

• 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:
• 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

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Rochester: lead
• Rochester Institute of Technology: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Rochester

Rochester, New York, 14642, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Ischemic Stroke; Hemianopsia; Hemorrhagic Stroke; Stroke

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cerebrovascular Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Vascular Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases; Vision Disorders; Sensation Disorders; Neurologic Manifestations; Blindness; Eye Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Central Study Contacts

Evan Burr

CONTACT

585-275-5234; Evan_Burr@URMC.Rochester.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: James V. Aquavella Professor of Ophthalmology, Associate Chair for Research, Dept. Ophthalmology

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 8, 2023
• First Posted: September 21, 2023
• Study Start: November 28, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 1, 2028
• Last Updated: January 9, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Locations

US (1)