Vision tings
Stimulus for vision
The human eye
Puplis
Presbyopia
Visual Focus
Lens
Lens transparency is essential
o Reduced transparency = cataract
Cumulative UV exposure – lens acts as filter to protect from UV, can
be damaged and lead to cataract – wear sunglasses
Congenital – detrimental to visual cortex development
Needs to be removed or visual pathways doesn’t develop fully o Cataract lens can be surgically removed
Compensate with strong optical spectacles or replace with synthetic lens
Refraction power of lens can be replaced, but accommodation lost
When lens is taken out
o Some people start to have capabilities in UV light
o Usually UV is outside of visible spectrum – if take lens out, people can start to see UV, adds additional spectrum
o Things have glows to them – neural wise, brain has inbuilt capabilities to see UV light, but don’t see it as lens blocks it from entering eye
The lens grows all throughout your life
o From age 0-90, there is !4x increase in thickness
o Third contributor to presbyopia
o Reduced visual acuity
o Things become blurry – also because of lost accommodation
o Need glasses to assist
Retina
Retina
2 subtypes
o Rods
Peak absorption at ~500nm
Activated between 400-600nm
Very sensitive – can be activated by 1 photon
Low acuity – rough, pixilated vision
Key for night/scotopic vision
Allows to see little specs of light
Key for peripheral vision
o Cones
Peak at !440, 530, 560nm
Have different spectrums
Less sensitive – need 100+ photons to activate
High acuity
Key for high-res colour/photopic vision
Concentrated in macula and fovea
- Best visual acuity in the macula, worst acuity (no acuity) in the blind spot
o Where axons of retinal ganglion cells exit the eye at the optic disk
Dark adaptation
Cones
dark adaptation
o Absolute threshold – minimum light needed to activate
o Start at say 75 and drop to about 50 – need 50 photons of light to activate the cones still
Won’t drop more than that – if less then 50 they won’t activate at all – will think it is dark there
Rods (dark adaptation)
o As you spend more time in the dark the absolute threshold drops
o To a point where minimal amounts of light will be detected – sensitivity increases
o Can see in a room that was initially pitch black
o Any bit of light in the room will break the adaptation
Go back to reliant on cones
Except one form of light
Long wave light
o Red spectrum light
rods are not activated by EM energy that is >650nm (red)
o if these wavelengths are the only ones in your environment; only getting red light
cones detect the presence of this energy and allow you to see
Rods don’t detect this energy – they go into adaptation mode and
prep you for scotopic vision
Cycle of dark adaptation occurs and get rod sensitivity
o Uses
Training who need to go out in the dark in red light conditions
Fighter pilots need to be able to fly at night
o Red spectrum light
rods are not activated by EM energy that is >650nm (red)
o if these wavelengths are the only ones in your environment; only getting red light
cones detect the presence of this energy and allow you to see
Rods don’t detect this energy – they go into adaptation mode and
prep you for scotopic vision
Cycle of dark adaptation occurs and get rod sensitivity
o Uses
Training who need to go out in the dark in red light conditions
Fighter pilots need to be able to fly at night
Sit in a red lit room – rods accommodate but cones still see
Eyes are ready to see in the dark if called to fly
Oguchi’s disease
Deficits in dark adaptation
Rare disorder where rod adaptation takes 3-4 hours
Conformational change is slow
Get impaired night vision, delayed scotopic vision
Retinitis pigmentosa
Deficits in dark adaptation
Eye disorder associated with genetic aetiology
Lose visual acuity – dying cells
Rods are initial victims – first to die off
Impaired night vision and peripheral vision
Lose two facets dependent on rod function
Visual scene gets tunnel vision – progressively until can only see in
macula
Eventually cones die off as well – completely blind
Variations in retina
Spatial arrangement of rods/cones
o For best acuity, photoreceptors need to be tightly packed in an ordered fashion
o If not packed – spaces in a loose arrangement
You get low resolution vision
Diffuse looking scenes
Pixilated almost, depending on how diffuse arrangement is
o Spatially diffuse in infancy, mature in 4 years, decline with age
Rods and cones lose spatial packing – get more spread out as you age
4th contributor to presbyopia
o Albinism exhibits permanent spatially diffuse photoreceptors
Lack melanin – pigment in tunic later that helps light scatter
Lack light scatter
Rods and cones never become tightly packed also – things stay
pixilated from childhood
Photoreceptor distribution
Blind spot
Perceptual stability
Blinks