Over the years, FAIT has conducted more experimentation on the effects of low-resolution displays on the central nervous system than any other research facility. This experience culminated in the Flaxon Graphics Adaptor, which is used in all of our Head-Mounted Display systems. The FGA utilizes our special "Rez-Morph" technology, allowing resolution to be switched at any time with the transmission of a few significant bytes along the video buss, easily "morphing" from one resolution to another over a specified number of frames. This innovation allows our researchers to directly observe the effects of visual stress without causing any permanent physical damage.
In addition to the Rez-Morph features, we've also included the "WarpChip", a realtime graphics-processing DSP which allows actual warping of the video image. While the special-effects usages of this technology are obvious, its real power lies in its ability to create subtle changes in the user's visual field over many frames. When properly applied, the WarpChip can result in actual entrainment of perceptual distortions in the user. When the HMD is removed, the real world looks skewed, and it can take hours or even days for the effects to wear off.
Over the course of experimentation with the FGA's features, FAIT researchers have noticed a "persistence" of perceptual distortions in volunteers subjected to extensive exposure, and have borrowed a term from the 60's counterculture to describe this phenonmenon: "Flashbacks". Flashbacks of perceptual distortions can occur weeks, months, or even years after the experiment is over, with no warning or apparent cause. While FAIT researchers are baffled by this phenomenon, past volunteers are wary of returning to the lab for future study.