Lecture 5: Vision Flashcards
retina
layer of neurons in back of eye
transduction
process of turning light into neural signals
cornea
bends light entering the eye
lens
changes shape to focus light on retina
refraction
the bending of light rays
ciliary muscles
adjust the focus by changing the shape of the lens
the process of accommodation
contraction of the ciliary muscles causes nearer or farther images to come into focus
eye movement is controlled by
three pairs of extraocular muscles
farsightedness
as mammals age, their lenses become less elastic and therefore less able to bring nearby objects into focus
nearsightedness
the most common vision problem in young people is myopia/nearsightedness, which is difficulty seeing distant objects
normal vision
the cornea and lens refract light to focus a sharp image of the outside world on the retina
myopia
eyeball is too long so images from distant objects are in focus in front of the retina. In this case, the image that reaches the retina is blurred
myopia with correction
eyeglasses refract the light before it reaches the cornea to bring the images into sharp focus on the retina
photoreceptors
sensory neurons in the retina that detect light:
rods - vision at low light levels
cones - colour vision
bipolar cells
receive input from photoreceptors and synapses on ganglion cells, whose axons form the optic nerve, which carries information to the brain
horizontal cells
in the retina contact photoreceptors and bipolar cells
amacrine cells
contact bipolar and ganglion cells
all cell types (in the retina) except ganglion cells generate:
only graded, local potentials, affecting each other through the graded release of neurotransmitters
ganglion cells conduct
action potentials
the humans eye contains about ___rods and______cones
100 million rods and 4 million cones, but only 1 million ganglion cells to transmit all that information to the brain
scotopic system
rods; highly sensitive to dim light; low acuity; insensitive to colour; more numerous in the periphery, absent in fovea
photopic system
cones; requires more light; sensitive to different wavelengths, enabling colour vision
photoreceptors in dark continually release
neurotransmitter
light triggers
hyperpolarization of the cell, causing it to release LESS neurotransmitter
hyperpolarization is just as much as a signal as
depolarization is
range refraction
uses different photoreceptors to handle different intensities