Development of personal computer software for a visual electrophysiology laboratory

This paper describes the software developed by the authors in order to introduce the flexibility and computing power of a modern personal computer in an existing visual electrophysiology laboratory. The basic problems that a programmer must solve in order to implement the main tasks requested are discussed. Such problems include signal acquisition, signal averaging, artifact rejection, time domain analysis, frequency domain analysis and data management. The software developed following our guidelines makes it possible for a personal computer equipped with a commercial analog-to-digital converter to interface directly with the physiologic amplifiers and visual stimulators commonly used either for classical electroretinography or for pattern and focal electroretinography.