In a preliminary attempt to investigate this question, we showed here that a small group of microphthalmic congenitally blind individuals (n = 4), who do not develop a full-sized functional retina (and in our case did not develop any functional vision) still possess a relatively retained retinotopic functional connectivity pattern (Fig. 4).
Binocular summation has an impact on clinical and statistical significant increase of visual acuity in all distances to provide a fully functional vision including functional stereopsis for our patients.
In contrast, interRAI assessments focus on functional implications such that impairment to the eye would be captured based on its influence on a person's functional vision.
Two other cases involved a lorry driver with functional vision in only one eye who received a waiver from federal regulators allowing him to drive, but was fired anyway; and a car mechanic whose blood pressure debarred him from meeting federal standards for driving a truck, and so lost his job as a mechanic which also included some driving chores.
In about 20% of LHON cases, however, the optic disc looks entirely normal, leading to a misdiagnosis such as functional vision loss [ 11- 13].
There is significant interest in the generation of improved assays to clearly identify experimental mice possessing functional vision, a property that could qualify mice for inclusion in behavioral and neuroscience studies.
A third reflex-based functional vision assessment tool has not yet been adopted for general use as a pre-test in cognitive behavioral studies, but holds outstanding promise for potential general application in this field: Optokinetic tracking involves assessment of the optokinetic reflex with an optokinetic drum [ 11- 15].
The Functional Low-Vision Observer Rated Assessment (FLORA), a functional low vision test, was developed in the year 2010 by the company Second Sight Medical Products in collaboration with a group of experts specialized in low vision rehabilitation.
Future directions for simulation based research are discussed with respect to designing a functional visual prosthesis, improving functional vision in near-term low-phosphene-count devices, and pursuing image processing strategies to impart the most comprehensible prosthetic vision.
