Theoretical Analysis of the Physiologic Mechanism of Luminous Variation in Eye-Brain System

Flickermeters provide correct measurements only when the source of flicker is an incandescent filament lamp. Due to the rapid proliferation of modern lamps there is the need to make available flickermeters that will quantify the degree of annoyance caused by any kind of lamp. It is widely accepted by scientific community that the preferable way to reach this goal is to directly measure the emitted light instead of the voltage supplying the lamp itself (as implemented by the actual flickermeters). This paper presents the results of a study aimed at modeling the eye-brain chain in order to predict the response, and hence the sensation, of a human being to a given luminous stimulus. The model has been experimentally tested with the standard input signals recommended for testing existing flickermeters. Preliminary test results are encouraging. The authors believe that the presented theoretical model may serve as a kernel for defining a general mathematical model for predicting the response of the eye-brain system to generic luminous fluxes of known spectrum and modulation