Abstract

For the past two years we have studied the effects of artificial scotomas on several measures of the visual performance of normal subjects, using the SRI scotoma simulator described by Crane and Kelly (1983). This novel optical system locks the image of an opaque mask (of any luminance) in a fixed position on the subject's retina without interfering with retinal image motions produced by his normal eye movements. Thus, stimulus patterns are unavailable to the masked portion of retina, simulating a retinal scotoma. These studies included measurements of contrast sensitivity (with scotomas of various sizes and at different retinal locations), and tracking performance.

© 1986 Optical Society of America