Abstract

In case of multiple sclerosis the discrimination of double-pulses of light is a more sensitive test of local damage in the visual field than visual acuity and critical flicker fusion frequency (Galvin et al., 1976, 1977). The same technique is also a diagnostic tool for detecting glaucoma (Stelmach et al., 1986). Given these facts, it is surprising that the method of double-pulse resolution is rarely used in clinical vision research. This may be a consequence of the apparent contradictions between a number of studies on the foveal discrimination of double-pulses (Mahneke, 1958; Venables, 1963; Kietzman and Sutton, 1968; Boynton, 1972), as well as methodological problems. I tried to resolve the difficulties by measuring double-pulse resolution by means of an extended version of the paradigm of Stelmach et al. (1986). It allows the quasi-simultaneous measurement of double-pulse resolution at 9 locations in the visual field. I also employed an adaptive psychophysical procedure which provides a maximum likelihood estimate of the threshold parameter (Treutwein, 1989).

© 1993 Optical Society of America