Propagating inhibition : a study on the spatiotemporal properties of inhibition in the human visual system

The response of the human visual system to spatially and/or temporally modulated luminance distributions has been the subject of considerable interest for a long time. Many researchers have been especially puzzled by the relations between the percept (i.e. the subjective sensation) and the stimulus (the physical presence). The large amount of interaction between the components of the system offers the .opportunity for a wide range of investigations, most of which provide the answer to one question while at the same time raising many new ones. Studying the visual system is an elegant way of studying the functioning of the brain, since some 40 % of the brain's input signals come from the eyes. ln this thesis attention is paid to the interactions between small flashes of short duration in order to throw some light on the combined spatiotemporal point spread function, with especial respect to the inhibitory effects. When the point spread function of a system is known and the system fulfils certain conditions, it is possible to predict the response of that system to any stimulus.