Receptive-field-like functions inferred from large-area psychophysical measurements.
By means of quasi-sinusoidal, circular stimulus patterns, frequency modulated to correct for the radial component of retinal inhomogeneity, we attempt to make all eccentricities within a 16-deg field contribute equally to the threshold response. Wide-field contrast-sensitivity data obtained with these frequency-modulated stimuli are modeled using a canonical form of local contrast sensitivity function (CSF), scaled linearly with eccentricity. Calculating Fourier transforms of the constant-velocity, local CSF, we obtain line-spread and point-spread functions that can also be interpreted as receptive-field responses at various eccentricities. These results are compared to other data on local spatial processing in the retina.
D005584:Fovea Centralis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D011601:Psychophysics; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors