Development characters of both eyes saccade function in children

Abstract

Objective The aim of the author is to explore the developmental characteristics of both eyes visually guided saccade (VGS) and memory guided saccade (MGS) in children. Methods Combining the electro-oculography with the multiple visual angles oriented test, the authors measured the latency, accuracy of amplitude and peak velocity in healthy boys aged from 5 to 19. The light of electro-diode (LED) was respectively set up in different directions on the screen from central spot to horizontal, vertical and oblique directions. In each direction six spots were selected by different visual angles (5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 degree) and the total points were 49. Results The latencies of VGS and MGS were shorten with the age increasing. The VGS latency of 5 to 13 years children was within the scope of 200 to 400 ms, of 15 to 19 years was 200 ms. The average MGS latency was 461 ms in children under the age of 9, 381 ms in 11 to 15 years, and 272 ms in 17 to 19 years. The amplitude accuracies of VGS and MGS increased with the growth of children, especially for MGS. The peak velocities of VGS and MGS showed a decrease trend with the age increasing. The study showed that the eye movements became more stable with the age growth of children. The development characteristics were correlated more closely with the age for MGS than VGS. The results showed that MGS correlated with the eye movements of reading and the function of brain fundus nucleus, which might be used as one of the clinical indexes of diagnosing reading disability. Conclusion The both eyes saccade in children could improve with the age growth. The both eyes saccade of reading might be affected mainly by MGS. Key words: Child; Saccade; Vision, binocular; Memory