PSYC2071 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Amacrine Cell, Ganglion Cell, Retina
Document Summary
Lecture 2- first steps in vision cortical visual proces. Light is processed and projected (transduced) at the back of the eye- the retina. Photoreceptors are not the first but the last thing light reaches in the eye. 6 layers- 3 dark and 3 light layers of axons and synapses. Vertical and lateral information transmission in the retina. Vertical processing pathway- transmits messages from the external to the brain ocessing. Lateral pathway- determines the nature of the information that gets transmitted from. Receptors outer segments contain visual pigment molecules- site of visual transductio. Chromophore- the light catching part of the visual pigment of the retina. Opsin- a large protein which determines which wavelength of the light the pigm. As a function of light exposure, the retina undergoes pigment bleaching which results. This can be experienced whenever we go from a brightly lit surround to a darker. Dark adaptation is required for recovery of the photoreceptors sensitivity.
