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Influence of rod adaptation upon cone responses to light offset in humans: I. Results in normal observers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Thomas E. Frumkes ,
Gudrun Lange ,
Noreen Denny  and
Iwona Beczkowska
Thomas E. Frumkes
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York
Gudrun Lange
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York
Noreen Denny
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York
Iwona Beczkowska
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York
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Abstract

Dark-adapted rods exert a tonic suppressive influence upon cone-mediated sensitivity to rapid flicker, a phenomenon called suppressive rod-cone interaction (SRC1). However, rod dark adaptation has negligible influence upon cone-mediated thresholds measured with more usual psychophysical procedures. The present study separately examined the influences of rod light and dark adaptation upon cone-mediated sensitivity to transient increases or decreases in illumination using sawtooth flicker with rapid-on (ramp-off) or rapid-off (ramp-on) waveforms. In the parafoveal retina, cones alone were stimulated with flicker by spatially superimposing longand short-wavelength stimuli presented in counterphase and matched in scotopic illuminance. Several different adaptation procedures were used. For higher (>4 Hz) frequencies, sensitivity of cones to both waveforms is nearly identical under any condition of adaptation; sensitivity decreases as rods progressively dark adapt. A considerably different situation exists for slower frequencies (1–4 Hz). Sensitivity of cones to rapid-off flicker is appreciably greater under light-adapted conditions confirming recent observations by Bowen et al. (1989). But as rods progressively dark adapt, sensitivity of cones to rapid-off waveforms decreases considerably while sensitivity to rapid-on waveforms is much less affected; in the totally dark-adapted eye, sensitivity to both waveforms is identical. These results confirm and extend recent physiological observations in amphibian retina (Frumkes & Wu, 1990) suggesting that SRCI specifically involves responses to transient decreases in illumination.

Keywords

Rod-cone interactionDark adaptationLight adaptation
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , February 1992 , pp. 83 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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