An LCD monitor with sufficiently precise timing for research in vision

An LCD monitor with sufficiently precise timing for research in vision

Peng Wang^1,2 and Danko Nikolić^1,2*

• ¹ Department of Neurophysiology, Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• ² Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Until now, liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors have not been used widely for research in vision. Despite their main advantages of continuous illumination and low electromagnetic emission, these monitors had problems with timing and reliability. Here we report that there is at least one new inexpensive 120 Hz model, whose timing and stability is on a par with a benchmark cathode-ray tube monitor, or even better. The onset time was stable across repetitions, 95% confidence interval (the error) of which was <0.01 ms. Brightness was also delivered reliably across repeated presentations (<0.04% error) and across blocks with different durations (<3% error). The LCD monitor seems suitable for many applications in vision research, including the studies that require combined accuracy of timing and intensity of visual stimulation.

Keywords: visual stimulation, display, stimulus delivery, precise timing, LCD, CRT

Citation: Wang P and Nikolić D (2011) An LCD monitor with sufficiently precise timing for research in vision. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 5:85. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2011.00085

Received: 11 April 2011; Accepted: 01 August 2011;
Published online: 18 August 2011.

Edited by:

Michael X. Cohen, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Reviewed by:

Clifford D. Saron, University of California at Davis, USA
Tomas Knapen, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Copyright: © 2011 Wang and Nikolić. This is an open-access article subject to a non-exclusive license between the authors and Frontiers Media SA, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and other Frontiers conditions are complied with.

*Correspondence: Danko Nikolić, Department of Neurophysiology, Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, Deutschordenstr. 46, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. e-mail:danko.nikolic@gmail.com