Influence of Optical Aberrations of an Eye on Resolution of Dichoptic Images

A human eye suffers from optical distortions or aberrations classified into lower-order aberrations and higher-order aberrations. The influence of higher-order aberrations on the visual perception has been much investigated. In our study, we paid attention to the influence of interocular differences between the degrees of different type aberrations on the ability to resolve dichoptic images. We investigated four types of aberrations - astigmatism, coma, trefoil, and spherical aberration. The lowest threshold was observed for the trefoil aberration, whereas the highest - for spherical aberration. Thus we have concluded that the thresholds of interocular differences between the degrees of higher-order aberrations needed to resolve dichoptic images strongly depend on the symmetry and orientation of the wavefront map and also on the aberrations to which the observer has adapted throughout the life.