Effect of prolonged monocular deprivation (homogeneous illumination) on the CFF of the nonoccluded and occluded eye

Since previous research has shown that the exposure of one eye to a prolonged period of darkness produces an initial depression followed by an enhancement of the CFF in the nonoccluded eye, an attempt was made to determine whether a similar phenomenon could be demonstrated by using diffuse, homogeneous illumination as the monocular condition. Two experiments were conducted, in which the CFFs of the nonoccluded and the occluded eyes were measured before and then at various intervals during 3 days of unpatterned visual stimulation. No significant changes in performance were observed in either eye. It was concluded that the production of this unusual interocular effect is dependent upon an absence of visual stimulation per se rather than upon an absence of pattern vision. The results were related to Sharpless’s (1964) concept of “disuse of neural pathways,” a revision of the law of denervation.