Supplementary file 1_Psychophysical assessment of face perception deficits in adults with amblyopia through top-down and bottom-up visual processing pathways.docx

PurposeThis study aims to investigate face perception ability in adult patients with amblyopia.
MethodsWe conducted two psychophysical experiments. The Face-detection task involved 25 amblyopic patients and 25 healthy controls, using face stimulation at 6 stimulation intensities. The Toast task included 16 amblyopic patients and 15 healthy controls, with pure noise images and semantic cues designed to induce face perception. We recorded accuracy and reaction times (RT) and used the Kruskal-Wallis test with Wilcoxon comparisons to analyze group differences.
ResultsIn the Face-detection task, amblyopic eyes (AE) exhibited significantly higher face detection thresholds than healthy controls (P < 0.05), indicating face detection deficit. AE showed lower accuracy at 20 and 67% stimulation intensities compared with HC and fellow eyes (Ps < 0.01). The Toast task revealed no significant differences in false alarm rate or RT were observed between groups (P > 0.1).
ConclusionThis study shows that patients with amblyopia have impaired face perception, with higher threshold and lower accuracy, especially under lower stimulation conditions. These findings highlight the need for further research to understand the neural basis of these deficits and explore potential treatments. Ultimately, these study results may provide valuable insights and fill an important gap in the psychophysical understanding of amblyopia.

研究目的：本研究旨在探究弱视（amblyopia）成年患者的面部感知能力。
研究方法：本研究开展两项心理物理学实验（psychophysical experiments）。面部检测任务（Face-detection task）招募25名弱视患者与25名健康对照者（healthy controls, HC），采用6级刺激强度的面部刺激范式。吐司任务（Toast task）纳入16名弱视患者与15名健康对照者，实验设计使用纯噪声图像（pure noise images）与语义线索（semantic cues）以诱导面部感知（face perception）。本研究记录了实验准确率（accuracy）与反应时（reaction times, RT），并采用克拉斯卡-沃利斯检验（Kruskal-Wallis test）结合威尔科克森两两比较法分析组间差异。
研究结果：在面部检测任务中，弱视眼（amblyopic eye, AE）的面部检测阈值显著高于健康对照者（P < 0.05），提示其存在面部检测功能缺陷。相较于健康对照者与健侧眼（fellow eyes），弱视眼在20%与67%刺激强度下的准确率更低（Ps < 0.01）。吐司任务结果显示，两组间的误报率（false alarm rate）与反应时（RT）均无显著差异（P > 0.1）。
研究结论：本研究表明，弱视患者存在面部感知受损的情况，表现为检测阈值升高与准确率降低，尤其在低刺激条件下更为显著。上述结果凸显了开展后续研究的必要性，以阐明此类感知缺陷的神经机制并探索潜在治疗方案。最终，本研究结果可为弱视的心理物理学机制研究提供宝贵见解，并填补该领域的一项重要研究空白。