A covariance structure analysis of flicker sensitivity

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) Vol. 35; no. 11; pp. 1575 - 1583
• Main Authors: Mayer, Melanie J., Dougherty, Robert F., Hu, Li-Tze
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.06.1995; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Aging - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Contrast; Contrast Sensitivity - physiology; Covariance structure analysis; Flicker; Flicker Fusion - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Macular Degeneration - psychology; Mechanisms; Middle Aged; Models, Psychological; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Vision; Vision, Monocular - physiology; Aging; Mechanisms; Covariance structure analysis; Flicker; Contrast; Human; Senescence; Perception threshold; Monocular vision; Psychophysics; Experimental study; Modeling; Visual perception; Sensitivity; Visual stimulus; Detection threshold; Age
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/0042-6989(94)00252-H

We tested whether linear structural models of the mechanisms underlying flicker sensitivity could reproduce the variance-covariance matrix of temporal contrast sensitivity data. Monocular sensitivities to frequencies between 2.5 and 45 Hz were measured for 124 subjects, ages 18–88 yr. Exploratory factor analyses revealed that both a two-mechanism and a three-mechanism model could adequately account for the data. Furthermore, confirmatory factor analyses and full structural equation models, using age as an explanatory variable, supported both models, with the three-factor model giving a somewhat better representation of the data. Parsimony favors the two-mechanism model. But patterns of loss associated with pre-exudative age-related maculopathy are more easily understood in terms of three underlying mechanisms.