Foveal Threshold Research Articles

The effect of varying the intensity and the duration of preexposure upon foveal dark adaptation in the human eye.

The course of foveal dark adaptation was studied as a function of the intensity and duration of preexposure. Four intensities (11,300, 5,650, 1,130, and 565 mL.) and four durations (300, 150, 30, and 15 seconds) were used in all combinations of intensity and duration. The threshold-measuring instrument was a monocular Hecht-Shlaer adaptometer and the threshold measurements were recorded in log micromicrolamberts. There were two subjects and each went through the complete series of intensities and durations five times. The five logarithmic values obtained for each threshold were converted into a geometric mean and these means were the data used in the analysis of the results. The chief results were as follows:- 1. For each subject the final steady threshold value was in the region of 7.0 log micromicroL. 2. As the intensity, or duration, or both, were increased the initial foveal dark adaptation threshold rose, the slope of the curve decreased, and the time to reach a final steady threshold value increased. 3. For those values of preexposure intensity and time for which the product, I x t, is a constant it was found that for the two higher intensities and two longer durations and also for the two lower intensities and two shorter durations, the dark adaptation curves were the same. For other values of I x t = C the curves were generally not the same.

Brightness, visual acuity and colour blindness

1. Measurements have been made of the dark-adapted foveal threshold of normal and colour blind persons in five parts of the spectrum using a 1° circular test field. 2. Compared to normals, protanopes (red-blinds) show an elevation of the threshold which increases slowly from blue to yellow and rises rapidly thereafter until in the red the threshold is more than ten times as high as normal. Deuteranopes (greenblinds) do not show so high an elevation, their maximum in the green being only about 70% above normal. 3. These threshold elevations correspond to luminosity losses in the spectrum. For the protanope the total loss in the spectrum is nearly one-half of the normal luminosity; for the deuteranope it is nearly two-fifths of normal. 4. Measurements were made of the illumination necessary for equal visual performance in normal and colour blind subjects. It was found that protanopes require 119% and deuteranopes 55% more light to achieve a visual acuity of 0.29 reciprocal minutes. These values agree closely with those found in the luminosity measurements. 5. Such losses support the idea that colour blindness corresponds to the loss of one of the three receptor systems usually postulated to account for normal colour vision. However, the colour sensations reported by colour blind persons, especially monocular colour blinds, do not support the idea of a lost or inactivated receptor system. A fresh explanation for colour blindness is needed to reconcile these conflicting kinds of evidence.

THE QUANTIC AND STATISTICAL BASES OF VISUAL EXCITATION

1. The photochemical theories of vision cannot provide a valid interpretation of the facts over the whole range of brightness. The fact that liminal excitation is increased by the absorption of a very small number of quanta, each absorbing rod receiving a single quantum, excludes the intervention of the mass action law which is the basis of all photochemical theories. 2. Owing to the quantic structure of light and to the random distribution of quanta in a faint light pencil, there must exist numerical relations between the threshold energy on the one hand and the size of the retinal area stimulated and the stimulation time on the other, whatever may be the inner mechanism of liminal excitation. When taking as a basis Van der Velden's experimental results, viz. that two quanta absorbed during a certain interval of time are sufficient to raise threshold excitation, the probability calculus enables us to compute the course of threshold energy in relation to the stimulation time and to the stimulated retinal area. No arbitrary parameter is needed to do so; the only constant to be used is found by experiment. 3. The quantic and statistical theory of visual excitation that we put forward in the present paper enables us to predict the validity of Ricco's law within what we call a "quasi-independent unit" and the validity of Piper's law within a test area made up of a certain number of such units. This theory does not correspond exactly with Piéron's law for foveal threshold in relation to the size of the stimulated area, but the deviation is probably due to an artefact; viz., the action of the micronystagmus. 4. Experiment proves that in region IV of the retina, 15 degrees temporally from the fovea of the right eye of two observers, Ricco's law applies strictly in rod vision from 2'12'' to 31'36'' and, perhaps, further on. 5. In the same region, from 12'30'' to 31'36'', Piper's law applies strictly in cone vision of extremely red light. 6. In peripheral vision with extremely red light the photochromatic interval has been found to be null. 7. Our theoretical interpretation of the term "quasi-independent unit" fits well with the histological data of the retina. 8. Numerical deviations of the theoretic time law of threshold intensity from the empirical course may be due to the existence of a relative refractory period of the ganglion (or bipolar) cells. This mechanism would be a sort of instantaneous adaptation of nervous elements and would explain the fact that the sensation level increases very much slower than the brightness level, in a range of the brightness scale where the photochemical adaptation cannot account for this phenomenon.

COLORBLIND VISION

1. Measurements have been made of the dark-adapted foveal threshold of normal and colorblind persons in five parts of the spectrum using a 1 degrees circular test field. 2. Compared to normals, protanopes (red-blinds) show an elevation of the threshold which increases slowly from blue to yellow and rises rapidly thereafter until in the red the threshold is more than ten times as high as normal. Deuteranopes (green-blinds) do not show so high an elevation, their maximum in the green being only about 70 per cent above normal. 3. These threshold elevations correspond to luminosity losses in the spectrum. For the protanope the total loss in the spectrum is nearly one-half of the normal luminosity; for the deuteranope it is nearly two-fifths of normal. 4. Such losses support the idea that colorblindness corresponds to the loss of one of the three receptor systems usually postulated to account for normal color vision. However, the color sensations reported by colorblind persons, especially monocular colorblinds, do not support the idea of a lost or inactivated receptor system. A fresh explanation for colorblindness is called for to reconcile these conflicting kinds of evidence.

The relation between foveal intensity threshold and length of an illuminated slit.

The relation between foveal intensity threshold and length of an illuminated slit.