Temporal impulse responses from flicker sensitivities

We derive visual temporal impulse response functions from the large-field sinusoidal flicker sensitivity measurements made at several luminances by Kelly [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 51, 422 (1961)]. To this end we recognize response function causality and use Kramers-Krönig relations to reconstruct the (unmeasured) temporal phase spectrum and hence also the impulse response functions. At high luminances our derived functions are triphasic, while at low luminances they are biphasic. These functions are model independent, rely on no free parameters, and are consistent with certain theoretical model-dependent functions as well as psychophysical measurements by others.