Vision (Eye)

WEEK 7
Sensation & Perception

 Sensation: A simple process in which sense organs, in response to

stimuli, collect information about the world with the help of the nervous
system.’
 Perception: is the conscious experience and interpretation of
information from the senses and involves neurons in the central
nervous system.

 SENSATION ATTENTION
PERCEPTION
 Mechanism
 Receptors are located at the extreme
external end of the sense organs. These
receptors are stimulated after receiving
a specific stimulus and pass on message
to the brain by generating electro-
chemical neural impulses and then carry
back the message from there to various
parts of the body. Thus, they in
collaboration with the nervous system
carry out external and internal
functions.
Types of Sensation

 Visual Sensation: sense of sight

 Auditory Sensation: sense of hearing
 Olfactory sensation: Sense of smell
 Gustation: Sense of taste
Cont…

 Cutaneous sensation: Skin senses for pressure, temperature, pain

(touch)

 Kinaesthetic sensation: Sense of posture and movement

 Organic sensation: a sensation (as hunger, thirst, nausea) arising

from internal organs.
Visual Sensation

The Eyes

 Our eyes are responsible for 80% of all the information

our brain receives. That is why, the eye is called the

queen of sensation.
 The sense organ involved in visual sensation is the eye, and it is
stimulated by light.

 Eyes are encased in orbital cavity and each eye is attached to it

with six nerves.

 Eye is a very sensitive organ. Eyelids, eyebrows and eyelashes

protect the eye from perspiration and dirt and keep it intact.
Visual System

 Thehuman visual system consists of the eyes,

several parts of the brain, and the pathways
connecting them.
 Thefirst stage in vision is, of course, the eye,
which contains two systems:
 one for forming the image and
 The other for transducing the image into electrical
impulses.
Structure of the Eye

Blind Spot
 The image-forming system itself consists of the
cornea, the pupil, and the lens.
 cornea is the transparent front surface of the
eye: Light enters here, and rays are bent inward by it
to begin the formation of the image.
 The lens completes the process of focusing the light on
the retina (see Figure 4.9).
 To focus on objects at different distances, the lens
changes shape. It becomes more spherical for near
objects and flatter for far ones.
 The pupil, the third component of the image forming
system, is a circular opening between the cornea and the
lens whose diameter varies in response to the level of
light present.
 It is largest in dim light and smallest in bright light,
thereby helping to ensure that enough light passes
through the lens to maintain image quality at different
light levels.
 All of these components focus the image on the retina.
Structure and Function of the Eye

Human eye consists of three layers:

1. Sclerotic Coat

2. Choroid Coat

3. Retinal Coat
1. Sclerotic Coat

 Outermost layer
 Made up of thick white fibrous material called Sclera.
 Protective layer.
i- Cornea: The front of Sclerotic coat is transparent and is known as
cornea.

 Light enters the eye through the cornea, the clear, curved layer. It
helps focus light on the retina at the back of the eye.
2. Choroid Coat

 Middle layer

 Black or very dark grey in colour

 Contains pigments that absorb excess light.

 Contains thin blood vessels that supply blood to the eye.

Cont..

i. Iris
 Front of the choroid coat.
 Located behind the cornea.
 Gives the eye its characteristic colour.
 The brown, black or blue colour that we see in the centre of eye is in
fact the iris.
Cont…

ii. Pupil

 Opening in the center of the iris

 Black dot in the middle of the eye

 Controls the amount of light entering the eye so it can be focused on

the retina to begin the process of sight.
Cont…

iii. Ciliary Muscles

 Located behind the iris.

 Help the iris to move.

 They help the iris to contract or dilate to control the amount of light.
Ciliary Muscles help the iris to contract
or dilate
Cont…

iv. Lens

• Attached to the ciliary muscles.

• Biconvex lens lies behind Iris.

• Convex lens adjust eye for long sight.

• Concave lens adjust eye for short sight.

Cont…

v. Aqueous Humour

Corne
 Watery liquid lying between a

the lens and the cornea.

 Keeps the eye wet

3. Retinal Coat

 Inner most layer

 Cup-shaped part.
Optic
 Optic nevers are located in it. Nerve
s
 Very sensitive part (A little excess light entering the eye can damage it).
Cont…

 i. Vitreous Humour

 Thick, sticky, transparent fluid

which fills the eye chamber.

 Keeps structure of the eye intact.

Cont…

ii. Retina

 The purpose of the retina is to receive light that the lens has focused, convert
the light into neural signals, and send these signals on to the brain for visual
recognition.

 Contains two types of cells (Rods and Cones) which make vision possible.
Difference b/w Photo-receptors

RODS CONES

Straight and rod shaped Cone- shaped

Responsible for vision in low light Responsible for vision in bright light
conditions and Dark Adaptation. and Colour vision.

Loss of rod cells causes night Loss of cone cells causes legal
blindness. blindness
 Explanation

 Dark Adaptation is the process by which our eyes adjust to darkness after

being exposed to light. For example, when we move from a bright, sunny area

outside to a relatively dark room inside, it is difficult to see at first. But

gradually our eyes recover and become more sensitive to the dim light

indoors.

 Colour Vision is the ability of the eye to discriminate between colors excited

by light of different wavelengths.

Cont…

iii. Blind Spot

 Spot on the retina.

 No rods and cones are present here.

 Any light entering this spot goes undecteced and no vision takes place.
Cont.…

iv. Optic Nerve

 Detects every image on the retina and carries it to the occipital lobe at
the back of the brain.

 The inverted image focussed on the retina gets upright when the optic
nerve carries it to the brain and thus, the process of the vision is
completed.
Color Blindness

 It is the inability to see certain colors, is a hereditary condition in which the proteins of
one or more cones either do not function or are inadequate in number.

 Total color blindness is extremely rare. Impaired appreciation of colour can happen.

 Red green blindness is the commonest type of color blindness. Individual with red and
green color blindness cannot distinguish red from green.

 Transmission is genetical : X linked recessive

Types of Color Blindness

 Monochromacy : Have only one type of cones and perceive one color. (See blue color
only)
 Dichormacy: Have only two types of cones in the retina and perceive two colors.
• Trichromate: See red, green & blue color
Color Blindness:
 Protoanopia : A person with loss of red cones
 Deuteranopia : A person with loss of green cones
 Tritanopia : A person with loss of blue cones
 Explaining Color Vision

 Why some people are color blind?

 Two processes are involved
 Trichromatic theory of color vision
 Opponent process theory of color vision
 How Color Vision Works

 One receptor is sensitive to the color green, another to the color

blue, and a third to the color red. The combinations of these three
colors produce all of the colors that we are capable of perceiving.
Researchers suggest that people are able to distinguish between as
many as seven million different colors.
 Photoreceptors also tend to have different sensitivity levels. Blue
receptors are the most sensitive and red the least; the ability
to perceive color requires interaction between at least two types of
photoreceptors. These three colors can then be combined to form
any visible color in the spectrum.
 Two complementary theories of color vision are the trichromatic theory
and the opponent process theory. The trichromatic theory, or
Young–Helmholtz theory, proposed in the 19th century by Thomas
Young and Hermann von Helmholtz, posits three types of cones
preferentially sensitive to blue, green, and red, respectively.
 Ewald Hering proposed the opponent process theory in 1872. It
states that the visual system interprets color in an antagonistic
way: red vs. green, blue vs. yellow, black vs. white. Both theories
are generally accepted as valid, describing different stages in
visual physiology,
 Trichromatic Theory of color
vision

 As early as 1802, Young suggested that the eye contained different

photoreceptor cells that were sensitive to different wavelengths of light in the
visible spectrum.
 Breaking down the word trichromatic, tri, which means “three,” and chromatic,
which means “colored.”
 It was later in the mid-1800s that researcher Hermann von Helmholtz expanded
upon Young's original theory and suggested that the cone receptors of the eye
were either short-wavelength (blue), medium-wavelength (green), or long-
wavelength (red). He also proposed that it was the strength of the signals
detected by the receptor cells that determined how the brain interpreted color in
the environment.
 Helmholtz discovered that people with normal color vision need three
wavelengths of light to create different colors through a series of experiments.
Trichromatic Theory of color
vision

 Three kinds of cones in retina. Each

of which responds primarily to a
specific range of wavelength.
 Blue-violet colors, green, yellow-red.
 Perception of color is influenced by
relative strength with which each of
three kinds of cones activate.
 E.g; if we see blue sky, the blue violet
cones are primarily triggered & other
show less activity.
 Opponent process theory of
color vision
 The opponent process theory suggests that the way humans
perceive colors is controlled by three opposing systems. We need
four unique colors to characterize perception of color: blue, yellow,
red, and green. According to this theory, there are three opposing
channels in our vision. They are:
 blue versus yellow
 red versus green
 black versus white
 We perceive a hue based on up to two colors at a time, but we can
only detect one of the opposing colors at a time. The opponent
process theory proposes that one member of the color pair
suppresses the other color. For example, we do see yellowish-greens
and reddish-yellows, but we never see reddish-green or yellowish-
blue color hues.
 The theory was first proposed by German physiologist Ewald Hering
in the late 1800s. Hering disagreed with the leading theory of his
time, known as the trivariance of vision theory or trichromatic
theory, put forth by Hermann von Helmholtz. This theory suggested
that color vision is based on three primary colors: red, green, and
blue. Instead, Hering believed that the way we view colors is based
 Opponent process theory of color vision

 Receptor cells for color are linked in pairs, working in opposition to each other
 There are blue-yellow, red-green, black-white pairing
 If a light contains more yellow than blue, the cells that respond to yellow will be
stimulated while blue ones are inhibited & object will appear yellow.
 Afterimages: A visual image seen after a stimulus has been removed.
 Negative afterimage: An afterimage whose polarity is the opposite of the
original stimulus - Light stimuli produce dark negative afterimages
 Colors are complementary: Red produces green afterimages, blue
produces yellow afterimages (and vice-versa)
• Opponent process theory provides
good explanation for afterimage

When we stare at yellow, our receptor cells for

yellow of the yellow-blue pairing become fatigued
& are less able to respond to yellow stimuli. In
contrast the receptor cells for the blue part of the
pair are not tired, because they are not tired,
when we look at white surface, the light reflected
off it would stimulate both yellow & blue. But
fatigue of yellow prevents this from happening
Opponent process theory versus
trichromatic theory
 Hering’s opponent process theory clashed with the trichromatic theory that
dominated his time. In fact, Hering was known to strongly oppose von
Helmholtz’s theory. So which is correct?
 It turns out that both of these theories are necessary to fully describe the
intricacies of human color vision.
 The trichromatic theory helps to explain how each type of cone receptor
detects different wavelengths in light. On the other hand, the opponent
process theory helps explain how these cones connect to the nerve cells that
determine how we actually perceive a color in our brain.
 In other words, the trichromatic theory explains how color vision happens at
the receptors, while opponent process theory interprets how color vision
occurs at a neural level.
Perception of Orientation & Movement

 Research with humans and other animals has helped to reveal the role of the extra-
striate cortex in visual perception of movement.

 Damage to this region severely disrupts a monkey’s ability to perceive moving stimuli.

 Bilateral damage to the human brain that includes area V5 produces an inability to
perceive movement— akinetopsia.

 Instead of a smooth progression of movement in their environment, individuals with

akinetopsia experience a series of still images that appear to refresh periodically.
Example

 Patient L. M. had an almost total loss of movement perception. She was unable
to cross a street without traffic lights because she could not judge the speed at
which cars were moving. Although she could perceive movements, she found
moving objects very unpleasant to look at. For example, while talking with
another person, she avoided looking at the person’s mouth because she found its
movements very disturbing. When the investigators asked her to try to detect
movements of a visual target in the laboratory, she said, “First the target is
completely at rest. Then it suddenly jumps upwards and downwards”. She was
able to see that the target was constantly changing its position, but she was
unaware of any sensation of movement.