PSYC51H3 Chapter 1: Chapter 1.docx
Document Summary
This layer is sensitive to lower levels of light but the cost is lower spatial resolution: this is because once the outputs from different points on the retina are pooled, the information has been lost concerning which of those points were stimulated and which were not, good resolution can be maintained by limiting the number of photoreceptor outputs that converge on later cells but this results in poor sensitivity to low levels of light. M ganglion cells receive input from a relatively large number of photoreceptors, giving them, giving them good light sensitivity: larger with broader axons and faster nerve conduction velocities and their responses are more transient than those of p cells, temporal resolution of the m cells equips them well for the perception of motion as well as detection of sudden stimulus onsets for purposes of redirecting spatial attention.
