A spectrum of colors: investigating the temporal frequency characteristics of the human visual system using a system identification approach

Abstract

Noise input signals are commonly used in both linear and nonlinear system identification of physiological systems. This method can be applied to electrophysiological analysis of the human visual system by controlling the modulation of the contrast of a checkerboard stimulus using a pre-computed noise waveform. In this study we describe how one can obtain an estimate of the linear impulse response of the visual system using noise waveforms. Furthermore, we examine the impulse responses obtained using noise signals with different frequency characteristics, in an attempt to investigate the temporal frequency characteristics of the human visual system. We show that noise signals with frequency content greater than 15 Hz are more effective at evoking these responses than those with little or no power at high frequencies.