What's the least we can see?

18 important questions on What's the least we can see?

What are the 2 ways to conceptualize light?

As a wave or as a stream of photons (p. 31 perceptual textbook)

How does the visual system cope with the vast range of intensities we encounter? (5 points)

1. Logarithmic coding
2. Rods and cones
3. Spatial summation
4. Temporal summation
5. Dark and light adaption

How do rods and cones help the visual system cope with the vast range of intensities we encounter?

Rods and cones are two different types of receptors with different ranges of sensitivities
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What is meant by spatial summation?

The summation of responses from one area - so many receptors could contribute to the rate of firing.

Ricco's law:
- greater sensitivity but poor spatial resolution
- trade off between the fovea and the peripheral retina

What is meant by temporal summation?

The summation of responses over a time period

Bloch's law:
- greater sensitivity but poor temporal resolution
- depends on the state of adaptation

What is meant by dark and light adaptation?

When the visual system is able to adjust its own sensitivity
- increase in temporal integrating time leads to poorer resolution
- in darkness, flickering lights less likely to be detected

---> rods become more sensitive to light when we are in the dark 
---> at 25 minutes in the dark, rods are at their maximum sensitivity of light (this is when our eyes have fully adjusted to the dark)
---> within 5 minutes of being in the darkness, cones are no use

How does dark and light adaptation happen?

Through transduction
---> the role of light is to isomerise retinal, causing it to change shape. This induces the electrical signal

What can be said about rod vs. cone sensitivity?

Individual cones are probably as sensitive as individual rods BUT the rod system allows signals from many rods to sum their input
---> many rods converge onto a single ganglion cell. This allows for efficient light gathering, but poor acuity
---> cones show much less convergence. This allows for finer acuity, but lowered light sensitivity

What is the minimal amount of light energy necessary to elicit a visual sensation?

90 photons

What factors affect thresholds for seeing a dim flash in the dark adapted eye i.e. the absolute threshold for vision?

(Hecht, Shlaer & Pirenne, 1942)

1. Retinal eccentricity
2. Size of test patch/(flash)
3. Flash duration
4. Wavelength of flash

What is the absolute threshold of retinal eccentricity?

Best resolution at 20°eccentric from the eye.

i.e. the flash needs to be located 20 degrees to the side of the fixation point
- most densely packed rods with spatial summation properties here

What is the absolute threshold of the size of the test patch?

10 arc min
- this summates all the protons that hit it

Ricco's Law: what matters is the number of quanta and not the area up to a critical point of 10 arc min

What is the absolute threshold of the flash duration?

1ms; from Bloch's law; what matters is the number of quanta, not how they are distributed over time up to a critical time of 10ms, after which more quanta are required for 60% seeing.

What is the absolute threshold of the wavelength of the flash?

510nm - the peak sensitivity for rods

(remember the eye dark adapted - meaning only rods are active)

In an area of 10 arc min, how many rods are there?

Around 350 rods

(less than 10 photons hit this whole area, so this makes it very unlikely that 1 rod will absorb more than 1 photon = A single quantum of light (photon) is sufficient to activate a rod receptor under normal conditions

What lighting conditions do rods and cones operate best under?

Rods - dim (scotopic) illumination
Cones - bright (photopic) illumination

---> having an area at the centre of the fovea with no rods means that, under dim illuminations, the central 1 degree or so around the fovea is effectively blind

What is age-related macular degeneration (AMD)?

A disease associated with aging that affects the macula, the central part of the retina that has a high concentration of cones

---> the leading cause of visual loss among the elderly in the US
---> AMD gradually destroys sharp central vision

(p. 42 perceptual textbook)

What is retinitis pigmentosa (RP)

A progressive degeneration of the retina that affects night vision and peripheral vision.
---> in most cases, the rods are affected more than the cones i.e. people with the disease first notice vision problems in their peripheral vision and under low light conditions

(p. 50 - 51 perceptual textbook)

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