Abstract
Primates’ retinal ganglion cells in different visual pathways have been shown to adapt independently (Current Biology 22 (2012) 220–224). However, the manner in which adaptation occurs under simultaneous stimulation of two visual pathways has not yet been explored. In this study, the dynamics of color afterimages were measured while stimulating one or two visual pathway using a time-varying afterimage paradigm. The dynamics of adaptation was approximately equivalent among the three primary visual pathways, but adaptation was slower for simultaneous stimulation of two visual pathways compared to the stimulation of one visual pathway. In addition, we found that the speed of adaptation also depends upon which two pathways are combined. We developed a two-stage adaptation model, both with the same dynamics, to account for the results with simultaneous stimulation of two pathways.
Highlights
Visual adaptation refers to a sensitivity change following exposure to a visual stimulus
This analysis showed no significant differences in the identity points for stimuli presented along the cardinal directions, suggesting when contrasts were equated, the three cardinal axes had comparable dynamics of adaptation
It was found that dynamics of adaptation depend directly on the contrast of the stimulus regardless of which pathway or the number of pathways being stimulated
Summary
Visual adaptation refers to a sensitivity change following exposure to a visual stimulus. They designed a way to precisely record the time where the perceptual “gray” null occurred. They performed in vivo recordings of primates’ retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in response to their stimulus. The RGC responses were explained by a mathematical model which considered a fast mechanism responding directly to the stimulus and a slow, longer-lasting decay process accounting for adaptation. This method is useful to psychophysically study the dynamics of adaptation in different visual pathways
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