Human cones appear to adapt at low light levels: Measurements on the red-green detection mechanism
Chaparro, Alex Stromeyer, C.F. Chen, G. Kronauer, Richard E.
Chaparro, Alex
Stromeyer, C.F.
Chen, G.
Kronauer, Richard E.
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1995-11
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Chaparro, A., Stromeyer, C.F., Chen, G., & Kronauer, R.E. (1995). Human cones appear to adapt at low light levels: Measurements on the red-green detection mechanism. Vision Research, 35(22), 3103-3118. doi: 10.1016/0042-6989(95)00069-C
Abstract
Recent physiological evidence suggests that cones do not light adapt at low light levels. To assess whether adaptation is cone-selective at low light levels, the red-green detection mechanism was isolated. Thresholds were measured with a large test flash, which stimulated the L and M cones in different fixed amplitude ratios, on different colored adapting fields. Thresholds were plotted in L and M cone contrast coordinates. The red-green mechanism responded to an equally-weighted difference of L and M cone contrast on each colored field, demonstrating equivalent, Weberian adaptation of the L and M cone signals. The L and M cone signals independently adapted for illuminance levels as low as 60 effective trolands (e.g. M-cone trolands). Since this adaptation is entirely selective to cone type, it suggests that the cones themselves light-adapt. The red-green detection contour on reddish fields was displaced further out from the origin of the cone contrast coordinates, revealing an additional sensitivity loss at a subsequent, spectrally-opponent site. This second-site effect may arise from a net "red" or "green" signal that represents the degree to which the L and M cones are differently hyperpolarized by the steady, colored adapting field. Such differential hyperpolarization is compatible with equivalent, Weberian adaptation of the L and M cones.
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Elsevier Ltd.
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Vision Research
35(22)
35(22)
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0042-6989