Sensation & Perception Lecture 2 Sensory Transduction

Light, the eye and the retina

What do we sense?

What do we actually sense? Just four things.

Light Mechanical forces Chemicals Temperature

Sensory Transduction
Transforming physical information into neural signals. Four types of receptors in humans: 1. Photoreceptors sense light 2. Mechanoreceptors sense mechanical pressure 3. Chemoreceptors sense molecules 4. Thermoreceptors sense temperature

Photoreceptors sense light. What IS light?

Visible light is electromagnetic radiation of 380-760nm, emitted by the sun, lightbulbs, etc.

PS1009 Perception: Sensory Transduction

What does light tell us?

Light energy is reflected and absorbed by surfaces around us. This changes the properties of the light. Light waves contain information about surfaces. The brain extracts surface information from light.

The eye

PHOTORECEPTORS

Photoreceptors: how they work

When light hits a photopigment molecule, it splits The split activates the photoreceptor cell this is the moment of transduction from light wave to neural impulse

It takes some time for the photopigment to be ready to be used again. . .

Photopigment depletion*
Dark Adaptation Troxler fading

*Neural adaptation also contributes to these effects and will be discussed later.

The pupil constricts and widens to control the amount of light coming in to optimize sensitivity of the photoreceptors for the light conditions. Photoreceptors are at the BACK of the eye so that photopigments can be readily replenished.

Two types of photoreceptors: Rods & Cones

Rods Response Recovery Slow Slow Cones Fast Fast

Acuity Sensitivity Location How many types? How many? Function

Low High Peripheral Retina One 120 million Peripheral and low-light achromatic vision

High Low Central Retina Three (L, M, and S) 6 million Detailed, central, chromatic vision

Three Cone Types

Short (blue) peak at 440nm Medium (green) peak at 540 Long (red) peak at 570nm

White light contains components of all wavelengths (colours)

More in week 5 about colour perception . . .

Color blindness
Most commonly: lose L/M differentiation (red/green colorblind) Common in caucasian males (~5%) X-linked genetic trait Recently evolved* Less commonly: lose S cones; albinism (no cones); brain injury

Distribution of photoreceptors on the retina

Cones are concentrated at the fovea. Rods are fewer in the periphery, and increase towards the fovea, but there are no rods at the fovea. Higher receptor density = higher perceptual acuity

Eye Movements
Bring new objects of interest to the fovea Keep the eyes fixed when head/body move Prevent images from fading by shifting their position on the retina

The blind spot corresponds to the place where the axons of 1.2 million retinal ganglion cells form the optic nerve

Edges are important

Signal the presence of an object or boundary (usually (usually) Blank spaces are unimportant (usually) The visual system exaggerates edges, starting in the retina

Mach bands

Two retinal mechanisms for edge enhancement 1. Lateral Inhibition

Two retinal mechanisms for edge enhancement 2. Center-surround retinal ganglion cells

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIevCFZixIg

Receptive Field
The place/type of stimulus that elicits a response in a given neuron Neurons respond selectively to specific regions/stimuli, from sensory receptors all the way through to cortical brain areas. Respond = change their firing rate (increasing OR decreasing) Easier to map RFs at early stages (vision/touch) becomes increasingly difficult the further into the system you go.

Retinal Ganglion Cells

Two important types
1. Midget cells receive input from cones
Receive input from a smaller number of cells Project to the parvocellular pathway high acuity color pathway to the brain (central vision)

2. Parasol cells receive input from rods

Receive input from a large number of cells Project to the magnocellular pathway low acuity but highly sensitive pathway to the brain (low light, peripheral vision, motion and contrast)

(there are other types)

Summary: Photoreceptors capture light information and send it to the brain

The retina is an array of photoreceptors which are sensitive to the wavelength and intensity of light Two types of photoreceptors: rods support peripheral, low-light vision, cones support central, high-acuity color vision Retinal ganglion cells gather input from photoreceptors and transmit it to the brain

Seeing is believing?
Color = differences in pattern of cone activation to different wavelengths of energy. Cone/rod distributions determine experience of central/peripheral vision Edges are exaggerated.

Sensory Transduction
Transforming physical information into neural signals. Four types of receptors in humans: 1. Photoreceptors sense light 2. Mechanoreceptors sense mechanical pressure 3. Chemoreceptors sense molecules 4. Thermoreceptors sense temperature