Abstract

Measurement of the temporal modulation threshold function (TMTF) in retinal diseases shows that diverse patterns of temporal loss are found in different diagnostic groups. Complete specification of the temporal losses requires specification of the visual impulse response (VIR) in each type of loss, which can be achieved by a new "temporal deblurring" technique for measurement of the relative phase shifts of all the frequency components of the response. The amplitude attenuation is measured psychophysically by a standard TMTF paradigm, and then compensated by increasing harmonic strength in proportion to the visual attenuation. The phase of each frequency component is then adjusted so as to maximize the internal response amplitude. The amplitude and phase values may be converted by inverse Fourier transformation into the estimated VIT for the particular stimulus conditions.

© 1990 Optical Society of America