Ocular accommodation control and adaptive optics. The development of monocular and binocular adaptive optics instrumentation for the study of accommodation and convergence, and study of the monocular accommodative response to rapid changes in dioptric stimuli.

Abstract

The relationship between accommodation and myopia has been under investigation for many years, and the effort to understand it is ongoing. In this thesis, an introduction to the state of myopia research is given first, with particular reference to studies of accommodation and higher-order ocular aberrations, which feature in the subsequent chapters. Following a brief introduction to the general technique of aberrometry and visual stimulus control using adaptive optics, the development of a monocular adaptive optics instrument for this purpose is described. The instrument is used to vary a dioptric stimulus and record the accommodation response in pilot studies and a detailed experiment, which has also been published elsewhere. It is found, among other things, that accommodation can respond to more than one different input level during its latency period, and that such inputs can be stored until components of the accommodation control system are free to process them. Indications of a minimum halting time for accommodation, of around 0.6 s, are presented. In later chapters, the development and testing of a new, binocular adaptive optics apparatus will be found. As well as binocular aberrometry and adaptive optics control of stimulus aberrations, this instrument displaces images to allow for and stimulate ocular convergence in binocular accommodation experiments. It is the first instrument in the world with its combined functionalities. Finally, the contribution of this thesis is summarised, and further instrumentation development and experiments are put forward for the continuation of this branch of accommodation and myopia research.