Spatial and temporal summation in impaired regions of the visual field.

Abstract

1. Spatial and temporal summation have been measured in perimetrically impaired regions of the visual field. Two classes of impairment have been studied: that resulting from lesions in the pre-geniculate visual pathways, and that resulting from post-geniculate lesions (optic radiation and/or striate cortex).2. Control measurements were made in the perimetrically normal visual fields of subjects without visual pathway damage.3. Spatial summation was found altered in all impaired visual fields: the greater the threshold elevation produced by the lesion, the more nearly complete was spatial summation.4. The above relation between threshold and spatial summation has also been given numerical form. This has been shown to be very nearly identical to the threshold-spatial summation relation which is seen as stimuli are increasingly peripherally presented in normal visual fields.5. It has been shown that the alterations of spatial summation brought about by a lesion are found only in those parts of the visual field which are perimetrically impaired: spatial summation is always normal in perimetrically normal regions of a visual field, even if other parts of the same field show impairment.6. Temporal summation has been found altered in visual fields impaired by post-geniculate lesions: the greater the threshold elevation produced by the lesion, the more nearly complete was temporal summation. These changes in temporal summation were found only in perimetrically impaired regions of the field.7. Temporal summation was normal in visual fields impaired by pregeniculate lesions.