Lesson 13

AGENDA:

Physiology of the Human Colour Vision System I:

Basic Anatomy of the Eye

• Forming an Image
• Optics of the Eye
• Retina and Photoreceptors

1
 Video 13.1:

Forming an Image

2
Course Map: Cross-Disciplinary Examination of Colour

History
Colour classification systems
evolved with improved
Chemistry
understanding of colour
Surface colours:
Physics pigments, paints
and dyes
Light as source
of all colours Colour

Physiology Art

Human vision system: The 7 types of

eyes detect light, colour contrasts
brain creates
perception of colour 3
 @ York U.

http://cvr.yorku.ca/home/index.html

Founded in 1992, the Centre for Vision Research focuses on interdisciplinary

research into human and machine vision and visual processes, into vision's
interactions with other senses and with motor and cognitive processes, and in
applications such as visually-guided robotics or clinical diagnosis and
treatment.

CVR offers many research opportunities for undergraduate students with its
faculty members who represent numerous departments at York. Review the
resources available on their website above.

News: Researcher seeks to shed light on age-related visual brain diseases

4
 Additional Website References
Sensation & Perception (5th ed) (Wolfe et al) The Joy of Visual Perception:
Student Website: (a free web book by P.K. Kaiser,
https://oup-arc.com/access/sensation-and-perception- retired York U. professor)
5e-student-resources http://www.yorku.ca/eye/thejoy.htm

5
 SUMMARY MAP:
Physiology of Colour Vision
1. Detection of Light 2. Processing in the Brain 3. Applications
• Anatomy of the • Basic Principles of • Colour mixing theories
human eye Colour Perception (additive, subtractive)
• Photo-transduction • Opponent Processes • Visual Disorders:
(conversion of light (to create colour colour ‘blindness’,
into neural signal) perception) synaesthesia, others
• Visual information • Visual illusions
pathway
• Cones and Rods

6
 Physiology of the Human Vision System
Anatomy of the Eye

It has been said throughout history that

‘Eyes are the windows to our soul’…

Eyes are also our main tool of perception of our surroundings, gathering up
to 75% of our total sensory information.

News: The magic of touch: how deafblind people taught us to ‘see’ the world differently during COVID

Let’s study the make-up of the eyes, working from the front to the back.

Video: The Eye (4 mins) 7

 Optics of the Eye: Forming an Image
Case 1: Far-away objects

Note: the cornea

(front of eye)
actually does most
of the refraction
(before the lens)

From very distant objects (whether intrinsic sources of light or not), light rays
will enter the eye mostly parallel to each other, and will focus to a single focus
‘point’ on the retina, appearing as a ‘point-image’. (i.e. we see it just as single
‘dot’, not a resolved star with surface details/etc.) 8
 Optics of the Eye: Forming an Image
Case 2: Close-up objects

Note: the cornea

(front of eye)
actually does most
of the refraction
(before the lens)

From close-up objects, light rays from different parts of the object will NOT
enter the eye parallel to each, will be bent by the cornea and then lens, and will
focus at different points on the focal plane on the retina, forming an image.
Optional Video: The Unbelievable Science of How We Read 9
 Video 13.2:

Optics of the Eye

10
Cross Section of the Right Eye

11
 Eye – Front View

Aperture of a camera

Pupil: the ‘black’ aperture (‘opening’) of the eye through which light enters the
eye, similar to the aperture of a camera.

Everything that we ‘see’ is from light that enters the eye through the pupil only.

12
 Eye – Side & Front View

Iris: a muscle diaphragm suspended over the

lens of the eye. It also contains pigments that
determine the ‘colour of eyes’.

The iris can shrink back on the lens (enlarging the pupil, or the opening →
‘pupil dilation’), or stretch forward over the lens (reducing the pupil, or the
opening → ‘pupil constriction’).

13
 Pupil Dilation & Constriction
Dim Lighting → the iris will ‘shrink back’ over the lens, to
enlarge the opening (‘pupil dilation’), to allow more light to
enter the eye.

(8 mm)

Bright Lighting → the iris will ‘stretch forward’ over the lens,
to reduce the opening (‘pupil constriction’), to reduce
amount of light entering the eye.

(2 mm)

Other artificial stimulants (such as drugs) can also induce

pupil dilation and/or constriction.
14
 Sclera: the ‘Whites of the Eye’

Sclera: a dense, white, opaque ‘outer shell’ of the eye ball (except the front part
over the lens/iris – the transparent cornea). It is made of a dense connective
tissues (filled with the protein collagen), to protect the inner components of the
eye, as well as maintain the ‘spherical’ shape of the eyeball. 15
 Cornea: 2/3 of Eye’s Optical Power
Cornea: a transparent covering layer over
the pupil and iris (‘front’ of the eye), with
index of refraction of n=1.376. (Compare to
water’s index of refraction: n=1.333.)

• It provides about 2/3 of the eye’s total

optical power: ability to focus incoming light,
through refraction. (how?)

• It serves to protect (cover) the lens, while

being transparent to light passing through it
into the pupil.

Aqueous Humor: transparent fluid (mostly

water) between the cornea and lens/iris. It
protects the lens and cornea, provides
oxygen and nutrients to them, and removes
waste from them. 16
 Lens & Ciliary Muscles
Lens: a crystalline lens-like,
nearly-spherical object in the
eye, behind the cornea and
aqueous humor.

It provides the remaining 1/3 of

the eye’s optical power,
focusing the light passed
through the cornea onto the
retina at the back of the eye,
through refraction and shape-
deformation. This process is
called accommodation.
Ciliary Muscles: smooth muscle fibres attached to the lens, that can contract,
in turn causing the lens to stretch out (elongate). This is how the lens can adjust
(or deform) its shape, and thus change focus – by the ciliary muscles pulling on
it to stretch it out, and releasing again to let it fall back to its more round shape.
17
 Vitreous Humor

Vitreous Humor:
transparent fluid between the
lens and retina. It helps to
keep the spherical shape of
the eye inside, as well as
give a clear, unobstructed,
transparent path for the light
to arrive at the retina.

18
Vision Problems: Improper Focusing of Light
Myopia (near-sightedness):
The image is focused in front of the retina, because
either the eye is too long, or the cornea is overly
steep. Result: cannot clearly see objects far away.

Hyperopia (far-sightedness):
The image is focused behind the retina, because
either the eye is too short, or the cornea is too flat.
Result: cannot clearly see objects close up.

Presbyopia (aging eye): Astigmatism (uneven cornea):

The lens becomes more hardened Instead of smooth, spherical shape (like a
and less flexible with age. Result: baseball), cornea be uneven (like a
cannot focus well on objects up football). Result: objects at all distances
close, need ‘reading glasses’. can be improperly focused on retina.
Video: Eye and four vision problems (4 mins) Blindness isn't a tragic binary
Video: How do glasses help us see? (4 mins) -- it's a rich spectrum
19
 Video 13.3:

Retina and
Photoreceptors
20
 Retina
Retina: a layer of nervous
tissue, covering the inner
back 2/3 of the eyeball.

Stimulation of certain cells

in the retina
(photoreceptors) by light
initiates an
electrochemical reaction
where, ultimately,
electrical impulses are
transmitted to the brain,
producing the sensation
of vision.

The main job of the eye’s optics is to focus light onto the retina, like onto a ‘film’.
News: Scientists Revive Human Retinas after Death
News: Stunning cell atlas captures human retina in colorful detail 21
 Retina: Layers of Specialized Cells
Retina is the
layer which
contains several
layers of
specialized cells,
including the
photoreceptor
cells (rods and
cones), and the
pigment
epithelium layer
as the outer-
most layer of the
retina (right
behind the
photoreceptors).
Article: Human retinas grown in a dish explain how color vision develops 22
 Photoreceptors: Rods and Cones
Rods and cones are photoreceptors: specialized neuron cells, in the
retina of the eyes, which are capable of photo-transduction (conversion
of absorbed light into an electrical impulse sent to the brain).

There are about 4-5 million cone cells in the retina of each eye (used for
both colour and black-white vision in bright lighting), and about 90 million
rod cells in each eye (used for black-white vision in dim lighting).
They each contain a different type of
photopigment, which is made in the inner
segment, and then stored in the outer segment
of the cell.

Rods have the rhodopsin photopigment, while

each cone has an individual variation of the
photopsin photopigment, each one sensitive
to a different spectral range of light.
Video: The Origins of Human Color Vision
Article: Color Vision: How Our Eyes Reflect Primate Evolution 23
 Fovea
Fovea: a small
depression (‘small pit’)
in the retina, on the
‘visual axis’ directly
behind the lens.

Fovea is highly
concentrated in cones,
containing most of the
eye’s 4-5 million cones
in a small area (<1mm),
and no rods.

The sharpest, most detailed images of objects in our central-view are focused
on this tiny fovea region. 24

Article: A close look at sharp vision in eye structure seen only in humans and other primates
 Distribution of Rods & Cones
Left
eye: Cones are mostly concentrated at the fovea.

Rods are absent from the fovea spot but are

present in the rest of the retina (except the
blind spot, at the location of the optical
nerve).

Fig. 2.11:
a patch of
retina at 1°
away from
the fovea.

25
Eccentricity (degrees) Distance away from fovea on the retina
 Optic Nerve

Optic Nerve: the sensory

nerve which carries
electrical impulses from
visual stimuli in the retina
out of the eye to the brain
for visual interpretation.

Article with video: Vision changes in space 26

 Retina, Fovea and Optic Nerve

An eye doctor’s view into a human eye.

Seeing without eyes – the unexpected world of nonvisual photoreception
27
 Blind Spot in the Eye
a) Cover your left eye, then move
your head toward and away from
this image, at a distance of about
10 to 15 cm, while staring at the
“F" at left. When the red square in
the middle disappears from view,
you found your blind spot (in the
uncovered right eye)!

To find the blind spot in the left eye,

turn this page upside down, cover
the right eye, and repeat the steps.

b) Repeat the same step as above (closing left eye) to find that when the gap
falls on your blind spot, it is ‘filled in’ by our brain with the surrounding
information (‘red bars’), so that we do not experience ‘holes’ in our vision.

28
 Choroid

Choroid: a layer of blood

vessels and other
nutrients, between retina
and sclera.

It provides nutrients to the

retina, as well as prevents
any ‘stray’ light from the
sides from entering the
eye.

29
 Evolution of the Eye
Why is the human eye the way it is? Was it always this way? Or did it evolve?

survival
extinction religion
darwin change sex humans

Part of the massive ‘Evolution’ PBS Documentary, ‘Evolution of the Eye’

video clip reviews how biologists use the range of less complex light
sensitive structures that exist in different living species today to hypothesize
the various evolutionary stages human eyes may have gone through.
Video: Can Evolution Make an Eye? - 12 Days of Evolution
Video: The evolution of the human eye
Article: See the Most Bizarre and Beautiful Animal Eyes on Earth
Article: An ancient gene stolen from bacteria set the stage for human sight
30
Supplemental Resources: Anatomy of the Eye
Anatomy, Physiology & Pathology of the Human Eye

http://www.tedmontgomery.com/the_eye/

WebVision:

http://webvision.med.utah.edu

Design of the Eye (HandPrint Website)

http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color1.html#designeye

News: Revolutionary Sensor Mimics Human Eye for Vivid Imagery

31