Clear Flashes described by Dr James T. Fulton, Strange?

[elias]

The entire claim of James T. Fulton from his book named "Processes In Biological Vision" about Clear Flashes:  ???

A numerically small group of subjects, primarily myopes, have consistently reported seeing scenes in better focus immediately after opening their eyes than one half to one second later .  These “flashes of clear vision� are repeatable.  Interestingly, subjects reporting this phenomenon were tested for refractive error during the transient event and no changes in refraction were reported (It would be interesting to know the precision employed).  The subjects say they attempt to focus on infinity before opening their eyes.  For a myope, this is equivalent to going to their basal accommodation level. However, there is a problem.  This experiment is suggestive of a significant computational or transmission error involving a DC offset in the analog signal before it is converted to a stream of
action potentials and sent to the lens.  It is necessary to define two components of the basal accommodation level, the refractive and the neural.  The basal refractive accommodation level is that assumed by the physiological optics of the eye.  It is the level reached with the eyes closed and relaxed.  Upon opening the eyes, the neural system evaluates the distance to the scene and provides an erroneous signal that constitutes the basal neurological accommodation error.  The total basal accommodation level is now in error by an amount that is time dependent.
It remains at the basal refractive error level for approximately 200 ms and then transitions to the total error level in another 100-200 ms depending on the light and contrast level of the stimulus.  See Section 7.3.2.1.2.
The basal neurological accommodation error, like other neurological errors is not correctable by refractive optics, although some optometrists may attempt to compensate for it by over prescribing the refractive correction.  The success of this approach is based on overwhelming the limited available range of accommodation in the subjects eye.

I have adopted the above text from his book (Chap. 18), which can be downloaded from <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.4colorvision.com/document.htm">http://www.4colorvision.com/document.htm</a><!-- m -->. Any comments?

[David]

Basically what he seems to be saying that some people with myopia see better for 200ms after opening their eyes, without a change in focus. What I think of as a clear flash can last anywhere from a split second to several minutes or much longer (it's not a "flash" anymore at some point, of course), and not nearly so consistently repeatable as what Fulton suggests.

But what Fulton says does remind me of Bates saying that often people's vision is normal when they begin to open their eyes, if they had successfully rested their eyes, and then in a short moment react to the light in the habitual way by tensing and producing whatever refractive error, and that it happens in such a short time that people don't necessarily notice.

Dave