The effect of temporal frequency variation on threshold contrast sensitivity deficits in optic neuritis.

The effect of increasing temporal frequency on contrast sensitivity anomalies in unilateral optic neuritis has been investigated. For 4 c/deg gratings no change in the deficit was observed at any temporal frequency whereas there was a tendency for the deficit to decrease with increase in temporal frequency for 0-5 c/deg gratings. The latter effect was not observed in a case of optic neuritis with severe deficit and not in two cases of other optic nerve pathology. An explanation based on the assumption that "threshold scotomata" might be present in cases of demyelinating optic nerve disease is proposed.