Additivity of effects within sectors of the sensitization zone of the Westheimer function.

In this paper, the fourth in a new series, we have examined the properties associated with illuminated sectors of the annular "sensitization" zone of the psychophysical Westheimer function. The results for one-, two-, and four-sector annular background fields indicate simple additivity of effects within the sensitization region when the flashing test field was set substantially above its increment threshold. Under such conditions effects of pattern orientation and borders within the sensitization zone were found to be negligible. The present findings provide a basis for relating the newly developed "transient-like" psychophysical test (which uses a windmill-type stimulus) to the Westheimer function. These data complement earlier clinical analyses of responses by patients whose Westheimer functions were studied near visual field lesions having sharp borders. The latter study is important in localizing this response function in the retina.