Electrical Measures and Psychophysical Data on Human Vision

This chapter compares psychophysical methods of studying human vision with more objective methods, especially that of recording electrical responses from the visual system. Two sites are available for obtaining these responses without undue discomfort or injury to the subject. These are (1) the cornea of the eye and (2) the scalp over the occipital cortex, as shown in Fig. 1. Accordingly, we give separate consideration to each of these sites, covering the topics of (a) the nature of the response recorded there, (b) techniques of eliciting and recording the response, and (c) resulting data, in comparison with psychophysical results under similar conditions.