Undercounting features and missing features: evidence for a high-level deficit in strabismic amblyopia

Abnormal visual development in strabismic amblyopia drastically affects visual perception and properties of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1). To test the notion that amblyopia also has consequences for higher visual areas, we asked humans with amblyopia to count briefly presented features. Using the amblyopic eye, strabismic amblyopes counted inaccurately, markedly underestimating the number of features. This inaccuracy was not due to low-level considerations (blur, visibility, crowding, undersampling or topographical jitter), as they also underestimated the number of features missing from a uniform grid. Rather, counting deficits in strabismic amblyopes reflected a higher-level limitation in the number of features the amblyopic visual system can individuate.