Katia steinfeld¹ (), Micah M. Murray, Marisa Carrasco; ¹University of Lausanne and Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland, ²The Sense Research and Innovation Institute, Switzerland, ³New York University, Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, USA

Background: Exogenous attention enhances visual perception across the visual field, often with stronger effects in the periphery, where perception is poorest. Myopes, even with corrected-to-normal vision, exhibit reduced acuity and contrast sensitivity in the peripheral visual field compared to emmetropes. Here we investigated whether the extent of the effects of exogenous attention vary as a function of myopia. Methods: Participants, all with corrected-to-normal vision, performed a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task to discriminate the orientation of tilted Gabor patches presented at 6° eccentricity on the horizontal meridian while maintaining central fixation. Attention was manipulated using cues presented above the Gabors shortly before (50 ms) their appearance. Cues were valid, invalid, or neutral, presented randomly. The tilt angle for each participant was determined using a Weibull staircase, converging at 80% accuracy. Results: Both groups exhibited attentional effects, with valid cues increasing performance (d’), and invalid cues decreasing performance, compared to neutral cues. The magnitude of these attentional effects was comparable between myopes and emmetropes. No speed-accuracy trade-off was observed in either group. Conclusion: Myopia, a condition associated with axial eye elongation and typically developing in late childhood, leads to peripheral visual deficits. Our findings suggest that exogenous attention can partially compensate for these deficits in corrected-to-normal adults. Currently, we are exploring whether this enhancement extends beyond the horizontal meridian to other regions of the visual field.

Acknowledgements: Swiss National Foundation MD-PhD 323630_207031, Swiss National Science Foundation (169206), NIH NEI R01-EY027401 to MC