Vision Flashcards
What are sensations?
- the detection of stimuli in the environment by cells in the nervous system
- the way the cells transduce the signal into a change in membrane potential and neurotransmitter release
What is perception?
- conscious experience and interpretation of sensory information
What are sensory receptors?
- specialized neurons that detect a specific category of physical events
How do sensory neurons sense stimuli?
- they express receptor proteins that are sensitive to specific features of the external environment,
- Ion channels qill open/close accordingly and will cause a change in membrane potential
What elements can be sensed by human sensory receptors?
- presence of specific molecules
- physical pressure
- temperature
- pH
- Electromagnetic radiation
What is sensory transduction?
- process by which sensory stimuli are translated into receptor potentials
What is receptor potential?
- graded change in the membrane potential of a sensory neuron caused by sensory stimuli
What is the mode of action of sensory neurons?
- Release neurotransmitters depending on their membrane potential
- the more depolarized sensory neurons are, the more neurotransmitters they release
What are opsins?
- receptor proteins that are sensitive to light
What are the different opsins that detect light in humans?
- rhodopsin
- red, green, blue cone opsins
How are the different types of photoreceptor cells differentiated?
- by the kind of opsin they express (therefore: 4 kinds)
What is a photoreceptor cell?
- sensory neuron respondible for vision
How many different types of opsins does a photoreceptor cell express?
one
What is a retinal?
Small molecule that attaches to the opsin proteins in our eye
What type of receptors are opsins?
Inhibitory metabotropic receptors
What is the function of retinal molecules?
- absorbs the electromagnetic energy of visible light.
What determines the wavelength that is absorbed by retinal?
- the opsin protein that is connected to it
How does a retinal molecule react to the presence of light?
1) The presence of a photon’s energy will change the configuration of the retinal molecule (makes it straight)
2) triggers an intracellular g-protein signaling cascade
3) the signaling cascade hyperpolarizes the membrane
How are opsins sensitive to light?
Due to the retinal that is bound to them
What is visible light?
wavelength between 380 and 760 nm
What type of waves are Gamma rays and X rays?
very short wavelength
What type of waves are radion and micro waves?
very long wavelengths
What type of cone cells are the most sensitive to light?
Green cone cells
What is the function of rhod cells?
- They just perceive light in general, not the colour of light
- Very sensitive to all visible light
Where are we able to see colour? Why?
- In the fovea, because it is the only place where we have cone cells
How do we perceive visual stimuli in the peripheral vision?
- In black and white, because it is just rhod cells
- See the shape and movement, not colour
What type of wavelengths are blue cones sensitive to?
Short wavelengths
What type of wavelengths are red cones sensitive to?
long wavelengths
What type of wavelengths are green cones sensitive to?
medium wavelengths
What is colour perception a function of?
- the relative rates of activity i the three types of cone cells
What does the amout of activation of one cone depend on?
- wavelength of light
- intensity of light
What wavelengths of light are green cones sensitive to?
- all medium wavelengths, it just does not perceive extremely red or blue hews
What is the difference between our perception of colour and the way paint emits colour?
- our vision is additive, whereas paint is substractive in the way it creates colour: it absorbes all light save for that which corresponds to the wavelengeth we wish to observe
What are the three dimensions of our percetion of light and colour?
- Brightness
- Saturation
- Hue
What is brightness?
intensity of light
What is saturation?
purity in terms of composite wavelengths of the observed light
What is hue?
The dominant wavelength in the light that is observed
Where are the opsin genes encoded?
On the X chromosome
What are the four types of colour vision deficiencies?
- protanopia (red cones)
- deuteranopia (green cones)
- tritanopia (blue cones)
- achromatopsia (g-protein cascade)
What is protanopia?
- absence of the red cone opsin
- normal visual acuity
- compensated by the green cone opsins
- trouble distinguishing color in the green-yellow-red section
What is deuteranopia?
- absence of the green cone opsin
- normal visual acuity
- green cones filled in with red cones
- trouble distinguishing color in the green-yellow-red section
What is tritanopia?
- absence of the blue cone opsin
- not compensated
- no impact (blue cone opsins not very sensitive)
What is achromatopsia?
true colour blindness
What causes achromatopsia?
- mutation in the g protein signaling cascade
What is the conjunctiva?
- mucous membrane that lines the eyelid
- fuses with the eyelid and prevents foreign particules from penetrating
What is the cornea?
- front layer of the eye
- focuses incoming light a fixed amount
What is the iris?
- ring of muscle
- contraction or relaxation determines the size of the pupil
What is the lens?
- cristallin
- changes shape to allow the eye to focus (accomodation)
What is the sclera?
- the side of the eyeball
- opaque
- does not allow entry of light
What is the fovea?
- central region of the retina
- little compression of visual information, therefore highest visual acuity (one-to-one ration between ganglial cells, bipolar cells and photoreceptor cells)
- very high resolution
- colour
- reading
What is the optic disk?
- blind spot of the retina
- no photoreceptors
- where the optic nerve exits through the back of the eye
What is the difference between the fovea and the peripheric regions of the retina?
- the fovea has an extremely high concentration of cone cells, each one of which connects to a single downstream collection of cells, which allows the registering of the exact location of the input.
- in peripheral regions, collections of photoreceptors converge into fewer and fewer neurons
Where do we perceive colour?
the fovea
What do we percevie in the peripheral vision?
- faint light
- general shapes
What type of photoreceptors does the fovea contain?
only cone cells
Where are con cells situated?
fovea
Where are rod cells situated?
peripheral retina
What levels of light are cone cells sensitive to?
moderate to high