{"doi":"10.1101/2021.11.30.470647","title":"Crowding changes appearance systematically in peripheral, amblyopic, and developing vision","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Visual crowding is the disruptive effect of clutter on object recognition. Although most prominent in adult peripheral vision, crowding also disrupts foveal vision in typically-developing children and those with strabismic amblyopia. Do these crowding effects share the same mechanism? Here we exploit observations that crowded errors in peripheral vision are not random: target objects appear either averaged with the flankers (assimilation), or replaced by them (substitution). If amblyopic and developmental crowding share the same mechanism then their errors should be similarly systematic. We tested foveal vision in children aged 3-8 years with typical vision or strabismic amblyopia, and peripheral vision in typical adults. The perceptual effects of crowding were measured by requiring observers to adjust a reference stimulus to match the perceived orientation of a target ‘Vac-Man’ element. When the target was surrounded by flankers that differed by ±30°, all three groups (adults and children with typical or amblyopic vision) reported orientations between the target and flankers (assimilation). Errors were reduced with ±90° differences, but primarily matched the flanker orientation (substitution) when they did occur. A population pooling model of crowding successfully simulated this pattern of errors in all three groups. We conclude that the perceptual effects of amblyopic and developing crowding are systematic and resemble the near periphery in adults, suggesting a common underlying mechanism.</jats:p>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Precis</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Crowding strongly disrupts peripheral vision, as well as the foveal vision of children with typical vision and amblyopia. We show that typically developing and amblyopic children make the same crowded errors as adults in the visual periphery, consistent with a common mechanism in all three cases.</jats:p>\n                </jats:sec>","journal":null,"year":null,"id":687410,"datarank":0.10397207708399181,"base_score":0.6931471805599453,"endowment":0.6931471805599453,"self_citation_contribution":0.10397207708399181,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.10397207708399181,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1795805,"name":"V.K. Tailor","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1795807,"name":"A.H. Dahlmann-Noor","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1795809,"name":"J.A. Greenwood","orcid":"0000-0002-6184-0818","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1795804,"name":"A.V. Kalpadakis-Smith","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Crowding changes appearance systematically in peripheral, amblyopic, and developing vision","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Visual crowding is the disruptive effect of clutter on object recognition. Although most prominent in adult peripheral vision, crowding also disrupts foveal vision in typically-developing children and those with strabismic amblyopia. Do these crowding effects share the same mechanism? Here we exploit observations that crowded errors in peripheral vision are not random: target objects appear either averaged with the flankers (assimilation), or replaced by them (substitution). If amblyopic and developmental crowding share the same mechanism then their errors should be similarly systematic. We tested foveal vision in children aged 3-8 years with typical vision or strabismic amblyopia, and peripheral vision in typical adults. The perceptual effects of crowding were measured by requiring observers to adjust a reference stimulus to match the perceived orientation of a target ‘Vac-Man’ element. When the target was surrounded by flankers that differed by ±30°, all three groups (adults and children with typical or amblyopic vision) reported orientations between the target and flankers (assimilation). Errors were reduced with ±90° differences, but primarily matched the flanker orientation (substitution) when they did occur. A population pooling model of crowding successfully simulated this pattern of errors in all three groups. We conclude that the perceptual effects of amblyopic and developing crowding are systematic and resemble the near periphery in adults, suggesting a common underlying mechanism.</jats:p>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Precis</jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Crowding strongly disrupts peripheral vision, as well as the foveal vision of children with typical vision and amblyopia. We show that typically developing and amblyopic children make the same crowded errors as adults in the visual periphery, consistent with a common mechanism in all three cases.</jats:p>\n                </jats:sec>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.6931471805599453,"endowment":0.6931471805599453,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"21097893","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W3217553520","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"UK Research and Innovation","grant_id":"MR/K024817/1","title":"A common framework for ambylopic, developmental and adult forms of visual crowding"}],"total_grants":1,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2024,"count":1}],"oa_status":"green","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2022/04/06/2021.11.30.470647.full.pdf","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2022/04/06/2021.11.30.470647.full.pdf","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://syndication.highwire.org/content/doi/10.1101/2021.11.30.470647","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.30.470647","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10148072/","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/article/PPR/PPR427937","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/api/fulltextRepo?pprId=PPR427937&type=FILE&fileName=EMS144201-pdf.pdf&mimeType=application/pdf","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.22.6.3","host_type":""},{"url":"https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2021/12/02/2021.11.30.470647.full.pdf","host_type":""},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35506917","host_type":""},{"url":"http://dx.doi.org/10.1167/jov.22.6.3","host_type":""},{"url":"https://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.30.470647","host_type":""},{"url":"https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10148072/","host_type":""}],"fields_of_study":["Visual perception and processing mechanisms","Ophthalmology and Visual Impairment Studies","Retinal Development and Disorders","0301 basic medicine","05 social sciences","03 medical and health sciences","0302 clinical medicine","0501 psychology and cognitive sciences"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Foveal","Peripheral vision","Crowding","Psychology","Perception","Audiology","Optometry","Cognitive psychology","Computer vision","Medicine","Computer science","Ophthalmology","Neuroscience","Adult","Fovea Centralis","Amblyopia","Article","Pattern Recognition, Visual","Visual Perception","Humans","Child","Vision, Ocular"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-18T21:57:19.970518Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}