20.500.12556/DiRROS-30002 Face recognition characteristics in patients with age-related macular degeneration determined using a virtual reality headset with eye tracking Background and objectives: Face recognition is one of the most serious disabilities of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Our purpose was to study face recognition using a novel method incorporating virtual reality (VR) and eye tracking. Materials and methods: Eighteen patients with AMD (seven male; median age 83 years; 89% with bilateral advanced AMD) and nineteen healthy controls (five male; median age 68 years) underwent the face recognition test IC FACES (Synthesius, Ljubljna, Slovenia) on a VR headset with built-in eye tracking sensors. Analysis included recognition accuracy, recognition time and fixation patterns. Additionally, a screening test for dementia and imaging with fundus autofluorescence and optical coherence tomography was performed. Results: AMD patients had significantly lower face recognition accuracy (42% vs. 92%; p < 0.001) and longer recognition time (median 4.0 vs. 2.0 s; p < 0.001) in comparison to controls. Both parameters were significantly worse in patients with lower visual acuity. In both groups, eye-tracking data revealed the two classical characteristics of the face recognition process, i.e., fixations clustering mainly in the nose-eyes-mouth triangle and starting observation in the nasal area. Conclusions: The study demonstrates usability of a VR headset with eye tracking for studying visual perception in real-world situations which could be applicable in the design of clinical studies. AMD eye tracking face recognition fixation heatmap virtual reality sledenje očem prepoznavanje obraza fiksacija toplotni zemljevid navidezna resničnost true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2026-06-11 11:44:22 2026-06-11 11:44:22 2026-06-12 03:54:43 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2024 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 16. 2. 2024; str. 1-16 iss. 2, [article no.] 636 Vol. 13 2024 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 617.7 2077-0383 10.3390/jcm13020636 185697795 RAZ_Zugelj_Nina_2024.pdf RAZ_Zugelj_Nina_2024.pdf 1 4BF175332B1161A027011A0E339D2FFA 0a70be9712a99a7be61c0da44c59b37dc16623b132fc9ae07a25fde56075e492 cc028502-6584-11f1-9215-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=45225 https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/13/2/636 1 21617289-657a-11f1-9215-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=45209 Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana 0 0 0