The visual evoked potential is commonly used to estimate visual acuity in infants. The stimulus used is temporally modulated in order to drive the cortical response. Here it is proposed that distortion products generated by a front-end nonlinearity may contaminate the acuity estimate. Specifically, the nonlinearity might convert temporal modulation of a high spatial frequency grating into appar...

Fourteen- and 24-week-old infants were tested for sensitivity to small position differences under two conditions: (a) the Vernier stimulus was flashed on and off at 1.2 or 4.8 Hz (flash condition); and (b) the Vernier breaks were presented in apparent motion at 1.2 or 4.8 Hz (motion condition). The latter stimulus also contained local flicker cues. Each infant was tested at one temporal frequen...

Flicker-induced dilatation is reduced in patients with cardiovascular risk, and the following arteriolar constriction is reduced with aging, leading to a reduced arteriolar amplitude and, thereby, indicating microvascular endothelial dysfunction. As endothelial dysfunction is associated with preeclampsia, we assessed retinal flicker response during pregnancy and postpartum. Between 2006 and 201...

A detailed computer model of a three-phase power network which includes inductive loads, resistance welders and an Adaptive Var Compensator (AVC) has been developed. The system configuration and parameters correspond to an irrdustrial customer served by a large electric utility. Welder operation produces severe cyclic flicker which leads to customer complaints. Computer studies have been conduc...

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the timeline of the development of sensitivity to first-order (luminance-defined) versus second-order (contrast-defined) motion and to compare how sensitivity to motion varies with temporal frequency (flicker rate), spatial frequency (stripe size), and velocity. In Chapter 2, I demonstrate that infants' sensitivity to drifting gratings is more adult-li...

Motion can impair the perception of other visual changes. Suchow and Alvarez (2011a, Current Biology, 21, 140-143) recently demonstrated a striking 'motion silencing' illusion, in which the salient changes among a group of objects' luminances (or colors, etc) appear to cease in the presence of large, coherent object motion. To understand why the visual system might be insensitive to changes in ...