Multi-flash campimetry in multiple sclerosis.

Data are reported from the initial stage of development of a psychophysical technique that allows temporal resolution to be sampled in 120 retinal locations per eye in half an hour. This computer generated test consists of systematically increasing the off period of a small spot of light, temporally modulated at 5 Hz, until the light is perceived as flickering. Visual field plots based on the data from control observers reveal good temporal resolution in the central visual field with a fall-off in resolving power in peripheral regions. Data from multiple sclerosis patients are characterized by "islands" of poor temporal resolution that presumably reflect demyelination along the optic nerve.