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Vision Loss Impact on Navigation in Virtual Reality

University of Rochester · with Rochester Institute of Technology · NCT06047717

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Opens the official ClinicalTrials.gov record, with the study team’s contacts. Bored Studies doesn’t enroll anyone.

Key facts

Compensation
Not posted. Ask the study team before screening.
Who can join
Ages 21–75 · All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Study type
Interventional · Not applicable
Target enrollment
40
US sites recruiting
1
Study start
November 28, 2023
Record last updated
August 25, 2026

Status re-checked against ClinicalTrials.gov within the last 12 hours.

What the study is about

The purpose of this research is to better understand the impact of cortically-induced blindness (CB) and the compensatory strategies subjects with this condition may develop on naturalistic behaviors, specifically, driving. Using a novel Virtual Reality (VR) program, the researchers will gather data on steering behavior in a variety of simulated naturalistic environments. Through the combined use of computer vision, deep learning, and gaze-contingent manipulations of the visual field, this work will test the central hypothesis that changes to visually guided steering behaviors in CB are a consequence of changes to the visual sampling and processing of task-related motion information (i.e., optic flow).

Being studied: Virtual Reality Driving Task

Conditions: Stroke, Ischemic; Quadrantanopia; Hemianopsia, Homonymous; Hemianopia, Homonymous; Hemianopia; Hemianopsia; Occipital Lobe Infarct; Visual Field Defect, Peripheral; Vision Loss Partial; Quadrantanopsia; Stroke Hemorrhagic

Eligibility criteria

Copied from the official record. The study team makes the final decision at screening.

Show full criteria

Cortically Blind Group

Inclusion Criteria

  • Residents of the United States or Canada
  • Presence of one-sided stroke or stroke-like damage to primary visual cortex or its immediate afferent white matter sustained within the specified age range of 21 - 75 years (verified by MRI and/or CT scans)
  • Reliable visual field defects in both eyes (homonymous defects) as measured by Humphrey or equivalent perimetry.
  • Willing, able, and competent to provide their own informed consent
  • Cognitively able, responsible to understand written and oral instructions in English
  • Emmetropic or else wear corrective contact lenses inside the virtual reality headset

Exclusion Criteria

  • Those who have never driven or earned a drivers' license
  • Past or present ocular disease interfering with visual acuity
  • Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) worse than 20/40 in either eye
  • Sustained damage to the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus
  • Presence of diffuse, whole-brain degenerative processes
  • Presence of brain damage deemed by study staff to potentially interfere with outcome measures
  • History of traumatic brain injury
  • Documented history of drug/alcohol abuse
  • Diagnosis of cognitive or seizure disorders
  • Diagnosis of one-sided attentional neglect

Control Group

Inclusion Criteria

  • Normal or corrected-to-normal vision, who are between the ages of 21 and 75 years of age, roughly matched to the age of CB subjects enrolled above
  • Competent and responsible, as determined by the Principal Investigator
  • Willing, able, and competent to provide their own informed consent
  • Normal cognitive abilities, be able to understand written and oral instructions in English
  • Emmetropic or else wear corrective contact lenses inside the virtual reality headset

Exclusion Criteria

  • Subjects who have never driven or earned a drivers' license
  • BCVA worse than 20/40 in either eye
  • Presence of vision loss from ocular diseases or disorders
  • Presence of a visual field defect
  • Inability to wear corrective contact lenses inside the virtual reality helmet if required to see clearly
  • Subjects with a history of neurological disorders
  • Subjects with a history of TBI
  • Persons who lack the competence or are otherwise unable to perform the visual testing as directed.

Recruiting US locations

  • University of Rochester

    Rochester, NY 14642

    Site contact: Evan Burr · 585-275-5234 · Evan_Burr@urmc.rochester.edu

Study contacts (from the official record)

  • Evan Burr · 585-275-5234 · Evan_Burr@URMC.Rochester.edu
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Vision Loss Impact on Navigation in Virtual Reality (NCT06047717) | Bored Studies