Patent ID: 6315414
Filing Date: 2001-11-13
Classification: A61B,G06F

Abstract:
A method of simultaneously assessing the function of component parts of the optic nerve, optic radiations and visual cortex, the method comprising the steps of:(a) dividing the visual field of view of each eye into a plurality of stimulus zones so as to roughly isolate confluent streams within the optic nerve, optic radiations and visual cortex due to their retinotopic arrangement;(b) presenting to the two eyes stimuli having different temporal modulation of the appearance of each of the zones of the visual field of each eye, the stimuli being different for each of the corresponding zones within the visual field of view of each eye;(c) making the temporal content of the variations of the appearance of the time varying stimuli sufficiently complex as to permit estimation of linear and nonlinear weighting functions characterising measured responses to each stimulus region and for each eye;(d) estimating some or all of the coefficients of the linear and nonlinear functions, for each stimulus zone, and binocular interaction, from the measured responses to said stimuli, to isolate separate contributions from component parts of the optic nerve, optic radiations and the left and right halves of the visual brain simultaneously.