Orientation Selectivity and Visual Acuity in School Children and Adults
We continued our study on the mechanisms of visual acuity (VA) in ontogenesis. We measured the VA and sensitivity to line orientation and determined the minimal length of lines for distinguishing the vertical and the horizontal ones in school children aged 7-16 years and adults aged 18-25 years old. It was found that the thresholds of discrimination of vertical and horizontal lines in subjects with normal VA decreased with age to the age of 9-10 years and then remained constant, while the orientation selectivity was improving to the age of 14-16 years. The average VA almost did not depend on age. Individual thresholds of line lengths and orientations correlated with the VA of subjects.