Visual acuity and hyperacuity in 11- to 17-year-old secondary school students

Visual acuity and hyperacuity of 11- to 17-year-old secondary school students with normal vision were measured and compared. The estimations of hyperacuity and acuity were made using the vernier stimuli, Landolt Cs, and Tumbling Es. When test stimuli were located in the tables, visual acuity estimations measured using Landolt Cs were significantly higher by a factor of 1.1 than that measured using Tumbling Es. Visual hyperacuity was 1.25?C4.1 times higher than visual acuity. The estimations of visual hyperacuity were almost 2 times higher in 16-year-old than 13-year-old secondary school students, in contrast to the estimations of visual acuity that did not change with age. The binocular visual acuity estimations were 1.05 times higher than the monocular ones and did not depend on the age. The ratio of binocular visual hyperacuity to monocular visual hyperacuity in 13-year-old secondary school students was 1.9, whereas, in senior secondary school students, it was 1.2. The contribution of binocular vision to the development of the mechanisms of visual acuity and hyperacuity in ontogenesis and the differences between the mechanisms of visual acuity and hyperacuity are discussed.