INTERMITTENT STIMULATION BY LIGHT : II. THE MEASUREMENT OF CRITICAL FUSION FREQUENCY FOR THE HUMAN EYE

An apparatus and a procedure are described to measure the critical frequency of flicker using different portions of the eye. The observer, looking through a pupil of fixed dimensions, views a field of 2° whose illumination is periodically interrupted and which is surrounded by a field of 10° whose illumination is continuous but otherwise identical with the interrupted field. Various parts of the apparatus are concerned with controlling and recording the retinal position of the field, its intensity, its spectral composition, and the frequency of interruption of its illumination. The procedure is so simplified and regulated that a complete set of readings over the whole intensity range of vision can be made at one sitting without fatigue or strain.