Which statement about suppression is true?

Which statement about suppression is true?

• A. Constant suppression is more symptomatic
• B. Suppression is always intermittent
• C. Constant suppression is an adaptation and patients are less likely to be symptomatic
• D. Intermittent suppression is not linked to ocular motility

Answer: (C)

Suppression is the brain’s strategy to keep vision single when the eyes don’t align, by down-weighting or ignoring input from the eye that would cause confusion. When suppression is constant, it becomes a fixed adaptation: the suppressed eye contributes little to conscious vision, so the person typically doesn’t experience double vision or related visual confusion. That’s why constant suppression is described as an adaptive response and why these patients are less likely to report acute symptoms, even though binocular function is compromised and stereoacuity may be poor. Intermittent suppression can come and go with gaze or alignment, which means it’s tied to how the eyes move and how the misalignment fluctuates. The statement that constant suppression is an adaptation and patients are less likely to be symptomatic captures this relationship. The other ideas—that constant suppression is more symptomatic, that suppression is always intermittent, or that intermittent suppression isn’t linked to ocular motility—don’t fit because suppression can be constant, it can fluctuate with position, and its presence often reflects the underlying eye-movement pattern causing the misalignment.

Suppression is the brain’s strategy to keep vision single when the eyes don’t align, by down-weighting or ignoring input from the eye that would cause confusion. When suppression is constant, it becomes a fixed adaptation: the suppressed eye contributes little to conscious vision, so the person typically doesn’t experience double vision or related visual confusion. That’s why constant suppression is described as an adaptive response and why these patients are less likely to report acute symptoms, even though binocular function is compromised and stereoacuity may be poor. Intermittent suppression can come and go with gaze or alignment, which means it’s tied to how the eyes move and how the misalignment fluctuates. The statement that constant suppression is an adaptation and patients are less likely to be symptomatic captures this relationship. The other ideas—that constant suppression is more symptomatic, that suppression is always intermittent, or that intermittent suppression isn’t linked to ocular motility—don’t fit because suppression can be constant, it can fluctuate with position, and its presence often reflects the underlying eye-movement pattern causing the misalignment.