ArticleScientific reports2018
Reading and Myopia: Contrast Polarity Matters.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
59 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 108 citations in OpenAlex.
- Myopia and Near Work: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Sustained Plus Lens Defocus Alters Retinal Responses and Ciliary Muscle Morphology In Myopes and Near-emmetropes.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2026Article
- Mesopic Illumination in Natural Environments: Implications for Myopia Research.Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists) · 2026Article
- Differential regulation of myopia progression by ON and OFF stimulation in guinea pigs.Eye and vision (London, England) · 2026Article
- S-Cone Retinal Pathway Dysfunction in Myopia.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
- Short-Term Changes in Retinal Activity With Four Myopia Control Spectacle Lenses.Translational vision science & technology · 2026Article
- Optically Induced Peripheral Contrast Reduction Restores ON/OFF Pathway Balance in Myopic Eyes.Ophthalmology science · 2026Article
- Human accommodative visuomotor function is driven by contrast through ON and OFF pathways and is enhanced in myopia.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Choroidal Structural and Vascular Changes During Myopia Progression and in Response to Myopia Control Interventions: A Systematic Review.Clinical ophthalmology (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Mechanisms Underlying Myopia Progression from Visual Signaling to Metabolic Remodeling in Retina.JMA journal · 2025Review
- Relative Role of ON/OFF Pathways in Resolving and Adapting to Blur in Myopes and Emmetropes.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2025Article
- Article
- Perspectives on Genetic and Environmental Factors in Myopia, Its Prediction, and the Future Direction of Research.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2025Review
- Optical and Visual Diet in Myopia.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2025Review
- Childhood Myopia Part II: Treatment Mechanisms, Emerging Options, and Considerations.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2025Review
- Correlation of contrast sensitivity at low spatial frequencies with myopic shift in Chinese children.BMC ophthalmology · 2025Article
- Lifestyle and sleep-related behaviours in children with myopia.BMC ophthalmology · 2025Article
- Retinal Responses to Short- and Longer-Term Predominant ON or OFF Stimulation in Emmetropes and Myopes.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2025Article
- The Electroretinogram I-Wave, a Component Originating in the Retinal OFF-Pathway, Associates With a Myopia Genetic Risk Polymorphism.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2024Article
- Impact of Genetic and Environmental Factors on Peripheral Refraction.Translational vision science & technology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In myopia the eye grows too long, generating poorly focused retinal images when people try to look at a distance. Myopia is tightly linked to the educational status and is on the rise worldwide. It is still not clear which kind of visual experience stimulates eye growth in children and students when they study. We propose a new and perhaps unexpected reason. Work in animal models has shown that selective activation of ON or OFF pathways has also selective effects on eye growth. This is likely to be true also in humans. Using custom-developed software to process video frames of the visual environment in realtime we quantified relative ON and OFF stimulus strengths. We found that ON and OFF inputs were largely balanced in natural environments. However, black text on white paper heavily overstimulated retinal OFF pathways. Conversely, white text on black paper overstimulated ON pathways. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in young human subjects, we found that the choroid, the heavily perfused layer behind the retina in the eye, becomes about 16 µm thinner in only one hour when subjects read black text on white background but about 10 µm thicker when they read white text from black background. Studies both in animal models and in humans have shown that thinner choroids are associated with myopia development and thicker choroids with myopia inhibition. Therefore, reading white text from a black screen or tablet may be a way to inhibit myopia, while conventional black text on white background may stimulate myopia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.