Critical Flicker Fusion Frequency: A Narrative Review

Mankowska, Natalia D.; Marcinkowska, Anna; Waśkow, Monika; Sharma, Rita I.; Kot, Jacek; Winklewski, Paweł J.

doi:10.3390/medicina57101096

Cited by 44 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(94 reference statements)

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“…Distinguishing between flickering and steady light is dependent on the factors mentioned in the review article by Mankowska et al [ 21 ]: (1) the frequency of modulation, (2) the amplitude of modulation, (3) the average illumination intensity, (4) the position on the retina at which the stimulus occurs, (5) the wavelength or colour of the light-emitting diode, (6) the intensity of ambient light, or (7) the viewing distance and (8) size of the stimulus. According to Bullough and colleagues [ 22 ], the combination of light flickering at 100 Hz or more with a stable, stationary background is associated with: (1) the perception of that light as a more constant and (2) less stroboscopic effect.…”

Section: Flickering Lightmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neuropsychological and Neurophysiological Mechanisms behind Flickering Light Stimulus Processing

Mankowska

Grzywinska

Winklewski

et al. 2022

Biology

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The aim of this review is to summarise current knowledge about flickering light and the underlying processes that occur during its processing in the brain. Despite the growing interest in the topic of flickering light, its clinical applications are still not well understood. Studies using EEG indicate an appearing synchronisation of brain wave frequencies with the frequency of flickering light, and hopefully, it could be used in memory therapy, among other applications. Some researchers have focused on using the flicker test as an indicator of arousal, which may be useful in clinical studies if the background for such a relationship is described. Since flicker testing has a risk of inducing epileptic seizures, however, every effort must be made to avoid high-risk combinations, which include, for example, red-blue light flashing at 15 Hz. Future research should focus on the usage of neuroimaging methods to describe the specific neuropsychological and neurophysiological processes occurring in the brain during the processing of flickering light so that its clinical utility can be preliminarily determined and randomised clinical trials can be initiated to test existing reports.

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Section: Flickering Lightmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are a number of studies using the flicker test and neuropsychological tests that seem to indicate a connection between the flicker test and arousal [ 21 ]. However, comparing CFF and psychological test results does not provide insight into the underlying processes behind these associations.…”

Section: Does the Flicker Test Examine Arousal?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuropsychological and Neurophysiological Mechanisms behind Flickering Light Stimulus Processing

Mankowska

Grzywinska

Winklewski

et al. 2022

Biology

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“…One critical temporal phenomenon for visual encoding is the continuity illusion effect : when photons impinge on the retina, the visual pathway can operate in static vision mode – whereby every flash is encoded as a separate event promoting attention and novelty perception – or can shift to the dynamic vision mode, where flashing stimuli is “fused” and perceived as a continuous steady light 16,24,25 . The Flicker Fusion Frequency (FFF) threshold defines when the dynamic vision mode is achieved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rat superior colliculus encodes the transition between static and dynamic vision modes

Gil

Valente

Shemesh

2022

Preprint

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The continuity illusion occurs when visual stimuli are presented at a sufficiently high frequency, thereby triggering a shift from the static to the dynamic vision mode. This facilitates perception of continuous and moving objects, which is key for interactions with the surrounding environment. However, how the continuity illusion is encoded along the entire visual pathway remains poorly understood, with disparate Flicker Fusion Frequency (FFF) measured at the retinal, cortical, and behavioural levels. Here, we combine a behavioural paradigm, functional–MRI (fMRI), and electrophysiological validation for studying the mechanisms underlying the encoding of the continuity illusion effect in the rat. Our behavioural measurements reported a Flicker Fusion Frequency (FFF) of 18±2 Hz. Remarkably, whole–pathway fMRI revealed marked zero–crossings from positive to negative fMRI signal regimes at the FF in the superior colliculus (SC) – an important visual saliency detector – but not in higher cortical or thalamic visual areas. Our electrophysiological recordings in SC explained the sources of these observations as arising from strong neuronal suppression when the continuity illusion is achieved. Combined, our data suggests that activation and suppression balances in SC play a critical role in encoding the continuity illusion effect.

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“…The web application presents extensive parameters to vary the colours displayed and the sounds played to the subject. Even less intuitively, species can differ in their Critical Flicker Fusion Frequency (CFFF) [15], the frequency at which they perceive the world and can react to it (in some species, such frequency even vary depending on the time of the day or of the season [10,21]). For instance, dogs have higher CFFF while cats have lower ones, and the CFFF of reptiles vary with the ambient temperature.…”

Section: Irregular Pairs and Tuplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Discrimination Abilities of Monk Parakeets Between Discreet and Continuous Quantities Through a Digital Life Enrichment Application

Barbay¹,

Jaña²,

Álvarez³

2022

Preprint

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Al Aïn et al. [1] measured the discrimination abilities between discrete and continuous quantities of three African Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus), showing that their accuracy in choosing between two small quantities was inversely correlated with the ratio between the difference between the two quantities and the largest quantity. Generalizing the experimental protocol described and implemented by Al Aïn et al. [1] to other subjects or species present some difficulties. The fact that the experimenter knows which answer was expected from the subjects is not an issue in their study because it was previously verified that the three subjects were unable to read such cues from human experimenters, but it means that the replication of such protocol is limited to individuals (from the same or from other species) which inability to read cues has been previously demonstrated. Beyond such a weakness, the cost of the experimental set-up and of the analysis of the video recordings of the experiments reduces the probability that such a protocol will be replicated with other subjects from the same species, or with subjects from the many other species of parrots existing around the world.Touchscreens have been successfully used for experiments in life enrichment [4,11,20] and in Comparative Psychology [7], with individuals from various nonhuman species. Could digital life enrichment techniques allow to replicate Al Aïn et al. [1]'s results at a lower cost, but with a better precision, and less potential experimental bias? Which additional advantages could a digital variant bring? Inspired by previous informal Digital Life Enrichment experiments such as a Cockatoo playing the video game Candy Crush (Figure 3), or Monk Parakeets learning to use touch interfaces by playing music on it (Figures 4 and 5), we designed, tested and used a web application InCA-WhatIsMore to digitally replicate and extend Al Aïn et al. [1]'s experimental setup. We obtained similar results to that of Ain et al. for two individuals of a distinct species of parrots, Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta Monachus), using an experimental protocol with increased guarantees against potential experimental biases, at a lower set-up cost, with additional advantages brought by the digital context, such as automatic logging and increased subject's agency. After describing a selection of concepts and results in the research area of

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Critical Flicker Fusion Frequency: A Narrative Review

Cited by 44 publications

References 73 publications

Neuropsychological and Neurophysiological Mechanisms behind Flickering Light Stimulus Processing

Neuropsychological and Neurophysiological Mechanisms behind Flickering Light Stimulus Processing

Rat superior colliculus encodes the transition between static and dynamic vision modes

Measuring Discrimination Abilities of Monk Parakeets Between Discreet and Continuous Quantities Through a Digital Life Enrichment Application

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