Haarlem, C. S. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2026

Critical flicker fusion thresholds predict attentional blink magnitude

The critical flicker fusion (CFF) threshold is a psychophysical measure used to quantify the temporal resolution of the visual system and is known to vary across individuals. However, it is unclear if this measure is stimulus-specific, or if it may represent a more fundamental processing rate for visual perception in general. Here, we assess if individual variation in CFF is predictive of two features of visual processing that are dependent on temporal perception: the attentional blink and global motion sensitivity. In a non-clinical sample of 84 individuals, flicker fusion thresholds were predictive of the magnitude of the attentional blink. In contrast, we found no link between flicker fusion and global motion sensitivity in a sample of 79 individuals. Our results suggest that CFF reflects a visual processing rate that impacts other, more complex perceptual tasks.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

The speed of sight: individual variation in critical flicker fusion thresholds

The critical flicker fusion threshold is a psychophysical measure commonly used to quantify visual temporal resolution; the fastest rate at which a visual system can discriminate visual signals. Critical flicker fusion thresholds vary substantially among species, reflecting different ecological niches and demands. However, it is unclear how much variation exists in flicker fusion thresholds between healthy individuals of the same species, or how stable this attribute is over time within individuals. In this study, we assessed both inter- and intra-individual variation in critical flicker fusion thresholds in a cohort of healthy human participants within a specific age range, using two common psychophysical methods and three different measurements during each session. The resulting thresholds for each method were highly correlated. We found a between-participant maximum difference of roughly 30 Hz in flicker fusion thresholds and we estimated a 95% prediction interval of 21 Hz. We used random-effects models to compare between- and within-participant variance and found that approximately 80% of variance was due to between-individual differences, and about 10% of the variance originated from within-individual differences over three sessions. Within-individual thresholds did not differ significantly between the three sessions in males, but did in females (P<0.001 for two methods and P<0.05 for one method), indicating that critical flicker fusion thresholds may be more variable in females than in males.

ecology↗