Impact of amblyopia on adult planning and problem solving
Reviewed by Fiona Rowe

This study sought to evaluate whether monocular amblyopia has an impact on planning and problem solving in the adult population. The authors used the Tower of London (TOL) test to address this question. The TOL test was developed to assess planning deficits in patients with frontal lobe lesions and found to depend on activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Subjects in this study had visual acuity of 0.63 or worse in the amblyopic eye. In total, 1569 subjects (51.7% female) were reviewed of which 78 had monocular amblyopia. An additional 65 subjects without amblyopia but with visual acuity of 0.63 or worse (most commonly due to eye trauma) were also included. Mean socioeconomic status (SES) was 14.45 ±3.86 and was significantly lower in patients with amblyopia (13.42 ±3.49) and with monocular reduction in visual acuity (13.89 ±4.08). Mean TOL performance was 15.31 ±3.29 without amblyopia, 14.56 ±3.76 with amblyopia and 15.14 ±3.65 with reduced visual acuity. SES was significantly associated with planning performance but with no significant effect for amblyopia. Men scored significantly higher than women with higher SES associated with better planning performance. The authors conclude there is no association between amblyopia and cognitive function in adulthood.

Intact visuospatial cognition in amblyopia: results from the Gutenberg health study.
Elflein HM, Schuster AK, Pitz S, et al.
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC OPHTHALMOLOGY AND STRABISMUS
2019;56(6):397-401.