Distance adaptation depends upon plasticity in the oculomotor control system

Maintaining binocular fixation on a target at 20 cm in the absence of secondary cues to distance produced changes in apparent distance and lateral phoria. Positive lenses of 0, .5, 2.0, 3.5, and 5.0 spherical diopters (SD) were used to manipulate the level of accommodative convergence in force during the period of maintained fixation. An inverse relationship was found between the stimulus to accommodation and the magnitude of the induced esophoria, the phoria being linearly related to an increase in apparent distance. The distance aftereffect obtained in the condition with the lowest net accommodative stimulus li.e., 0 D) equaled that typically produced by base-out prism adaptation with full secondary cues to distance available. In a second experiment, subjects walked through a well-lit hallway while viewing through a pair of 5h base-out prisms. It was shown that increasing the stimulus to accommodation by adding negative lenses of 0, 1.5, 3.5, and 5.5 SD reduced the adaptive change in apparent distance, as well as the change in phoria produced by the conventional base-out prism adaptation paradigm. It was concluded that a change in the resting tonus of the disparity vergence system underlies such adaptation, rather than recalibration of the oculomotor cues to distance. Monocular exposure data indicated that a small change in the tonus control for the accommodative system may be present as well.