P1-7: Modern Display Technology in Vision Science: Assessment of OLED and LCD Monitors for Visual Experiments

Abstract

For many decades, cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors have been the dominant display technology in vision science. However, in recent years, most manufacturers stopped their CRT production lines, which enforces the application of alternative display technology in the field of vision science. Here, we analyze liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) monitors for their applicability in vision science experiments. Based on extensive measurements of their photometric output, we compare these technologies and contrast them with classical CRT monitors. Vision scientists aim to accurately present both static and dynamic stimuli on their display devices. As for the presentation of static stimuli, we demonstrate an increased accuracy for LCD and OLED devices compared to CRT monitors, because the former exhibit a higher degree of independence of neighboring pixels. As for dynamic presentations, both CRTs and OLEDs outperform LCD devices in terms of accuracy, because dynamic presentations on LCDs require a reorientation of the liquid crystal molecules, so that successive frames in time depend on each other. Together with widely unknown and uncontrolled technical artifacts, these properties of LCDs may impair visual experiments that require high temporal precision. Therefore, OLED monitors are more suitable for vision science experiments with respect to both their static and their temporal characteristics. However, for certain applications in visual neuroscience, the low duty cycle of some OLED devices may introduce frequencies to the photometric output which fall within the window of visibility of neurons in the visual cortex and therefore interfere with single unit recordings.