Training the visual accommodation system.
Polarity cue for visual accomodation response of trained subjects to target motion direction change, considering retinal image blur and feedback relation
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Polarity cue for visual accomodation response of trained subjects to target motion direction change, considering retinal image blur and feedback relation
The main objective of the survey reported was a quantitative comparison of different visual functions at identical retinal points of individual patients. The possibility to develop objective forms of visual-field testing was also explored, taking into account reports by Frydrychowicz and Harms (1940) and Harms (1951). These investigators had insisted that pupillary responses to light are depressed in areas of homonymous scotomata. The shapes of homonymous visual field defects are discussed together with questions regarding the association and dissociation of symptoms.
Two male observers were administered a binocular visual response time task to small (45 min arc), flashed, photopic stimuli at four dominant wavelengths (632 nm red; 583 nm yellow; 526 nm green; 464 nm blue) imaged across the horizontal retinal meridian. The stimuli were imaged at 10 deg arc intervals from 80 deg left to 90 deg right of fixation. Testing followed either prior light adaptation or prior dark adaptation. Results indicated that mean response time (RT) varies with stimulus color. RT is faster to yellow than to blue and green and slowest to red. In general, mean RT was found to increase from fovea to periphery for all four colors, with the curve for red stimuli exhibiting the most rapid positive acceleration with increasing angular eccentricity from the fovea. The shape of the RT distribution across the retina was also found to depend upon the state of light or dark adaptation. The findings are related to previous RT research and are discussed in terms of optimizing the color and position of colored displays on instrument panels.
The development of receptive fields in rabbit pups was investigated by measuring their responses to various light stimuli and to electric shock delivered to the optic nerve head. The pups ranged in age from three to twenty-five days, allowing correlation of findings with maturation. The data, classified according to relation with symmetric or asymmetric field types, strongly suggest that retina maturation is the key factor in the rate of development in central visual pathways, and that central synaptic connections are made before the onset of retinal activity.
A heavy-ion, high-energy beam has been extracted from the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory Bevatron, making controlled exposure of biological systems feasible, and a series of experiments have been undertaken to determine the possible deleterious effects of such irradiation upon the primate retina. The left eyes of 54 rhesus monkeys have been exposed to accelerated 0+8 (250 MeV/nucleon). Beam flux ranged from 1.3 x 10 to the 7th particles/ sq cm (171 rads) to 5.9 x 10 to the 8th particles/sq cm (7740 rads). Fundus photography was performed immediately prior to and immediately following exposure, at 24 to 48 hours postexposure and at 1, 2, and 5 weeks postexposure. Punctate hemorrhages of the retina were visible at 1.3 x 10 to the 7th particles/sq cm (171 rads), the lowest exposure level utilized in this study. Acute radiation retinopathy, consisting of geographic retinal hemorrhage and ischemic necrosis of the retina, was not seen until total flux reached 7.7 x 10 to the 7th particles/sq cm (1000 rads).
Two objective methods and one subjective method for measuring +Gz tolerance (inertial vector in a head-to-foot direction) were compared on the human centrifuge. Direct eye-level blood pressure (Pa), blood flow velocity in the superficial temporal artery (Qta), and subjective visual symptoms were used to determine tolerance to rapid-onset acceleration (1 G/s) on the USAFSAM human centrifuge. Seven 'relaxed' subjects with extensive centrifuge experience were exposed to gradually increasing +Gz plateaus until the subject reported 100% loss of peripheral centrifuge gondola lights (PLL) and 50% loss of central light (CLD); viz., blackout. Zero forward Qta occurred 6 s (range 4-9 s) before subjective blackout and when mean eye-level blood pressure had reached 20 + or - 1 mm Hg (SE). The results of this study indicate that flow changes in the superficial temporal artery reflect flow changes in the retinal circulation during +Gz stress.
The conspicuity (or attention-getting qualities) were investigated of foveally-equated, colored lights, when seen against a star background. Subjects who were periodically engaged in a distracting cockpit task were required to search a large visual field and report the appearance of a target light as quickly as possible. Targets were red, yellow, white, green, and blue, and appeared either as steady or as flashing lights. Results indicate that red targets were missed more frequently and responded to more slowly than lights of other hues. Yellow targets were acquired more slowly than white, green, or blue targets; responses to white targets were significantly slower than responses to green or blue targets. In general, flashing lights were superior to steady lights, but this was not found for all hues. For red, the 2 Hz flash was superior to all other flash rates and to the steady light, none of which differed significantly from each other. Over all hues, conspicuity was found to peak at 2-3 Hz. Response time was found to be fastest, generally, for targets appearing at between 3 and 8 from the center of the visual field. However, this pattern was not repeated for every hue. Conspicuity response times suggest a complex relationship between hue and position in the visual field that is explained only partially by retinal sensitivity.
Many factors other than retinal image defocus have been found to influence the visual accommodation response. Experimental results reported herein demonstrate the effect on accommodation of four factors that previously have been only tangentially discussed in other research or have not been stated specifically to exist.
Six males were administered a peripheral visual response time test to the onset of brief small stimuli imaged in 10-deg arc separation intervals across the dark adapted horizontal retinal meridian under both binocular and monocular viewing conditions. This was done in an attempt to verify the existence of peripheral binocular summation using a response time measure. The results indicated that from 50-deg arc right to 50-deg arc left of the line of sight binocular summation is a reasonable explanation for the significantly faster binocular data. The stimulus position by viewing eye interaction was also significant. A discussion of these and other analyses is presented along with a review of related literature.
Monte Carlo calculations are performed to study the relation between cosmic ray nuclei and visual flashes observed by astronauts, in space. A satisfactory overall fit to all available data excluding the Skylab observations in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) has been achieved by varying three visual system parameters: effective retinal thickness, minimum projected track length inside retina and minimum energy loss rate. All light flash data from space excluding the SAA observations can be understood fully upon the basis of the primary cosmic ray charge and energy spectra together with the fitted values of the three visual system parameters. Monte Carlo simulations of the SAA observations suggest the existence of a previously unobserved multiply-charged component of the inner radiation belt.
The smooth portion of the horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex was analyzed in terms of the frequency response, relating slow-phase eye velocity to angular velocity of a rotating chair under four different cases: sinusoidal rotation about a vertical axis in total darkness, sinusoidal rotation during afterimage tracking, pseudorandom head rotation in total darkness, and pseudorandom head rotation during afterimage tracking. Eye movements were recorded using a photoelectric limbus tracking method. The observation that the presence of an afterimage during vestibular stimulation increases the velocity of slow-phase eye movements is in support of the theory that such slow-phase movements are generated, at least in part, by the perceived velocity of the target. Since the target is immobilized on the retina, this perceived velocity is clearly not generated by retinal slip, but rather by a mechanism related to the eye movement such as corollary discharge.
Several aspects of bacteriorhodopsin, the retinal protein component of the purple membranes of Halobacterium halobium, are discussed. Structural studies are presented. Photochemical properties of the protein complex and of its chromophore are described. Proton translocation of bacteriorhodopsin is compared to that of a protein from a thermophilic bacterium. Ionophore activity of bacteriorhodopsin is considered with attention to conformational changes, light dependency, and electrical potential. Amino acid transport is also examined and the light-energy budget is investigated. Bacteriorhodopsin is of interest because of its similarity to rhodopsin, which plays a major role in mammalian vision, and also because its attainability and distinctive characteristics will facilitate studies of certain bacterial physiological functions, such as ion transport and membrane organization.
The paper describes the intrinsic UV fluorescence of bacteriorhodopsin in some detail and determines the changes during the rapid cyclic reaction following light flashes. The results suggest that several tryptophan residues are affected in the protein, among them one or more exposed to aqueous medium. The kinetics of the fluorescence changes coincide closely with events involving the retinal residue during the deprotonation and reprotonation of the Schiff base group.
Simple onset response time (RT) experiments, previously shown to exhibit binocular summation effects for white stimuli along the horizontal meridian, were performed for red and green stimuli along 5 oblique meridians. Binocular RT was significantly shorter than monocular RT for a 45-min-diameter spot of red, green, or white light within eccentricities of about 50 deg from the fovea. Relatively large meridian differences were noted that appear to be due to the degree to which the images fall on corresponding retinal areas.
The cell membrane of Halobacterium halobium exhibits differential regions which contain crystalline arrays of a single kind of protein, termed bacteriorhodopsin. This bacterial retinal-protein complex resembles the visual pigment and, after the absorption of protons, translocates H(+) across the cell membrane, leading to an electrochemical gradient for protons between the inside and the outside of the cell. Thus, light is an alternate source of energy in these bacteria, in addition to terminal oxidation. The paper deals with work on light-driven transport in H. halobium with cell envelope vesicles. The discussion covers light-driven movements of H(+), Na(+), and K(+); light-driven amino acid transport; and apparent allosteric control of amino acid transport. The scheme of energy coupling in H. halobium vesicles appears simple, its quantitative details are quite complex and reveal regulatory phenomena. More knowledge is required of the way the coupling components are regulated by the ion gradients present.
Research on retinal circulation during space flight required the development of a simple technique to provide self monitoring of blood vessel changes in the fundus without the use of mydriatics. A Kowa RC-2 fundus camera was modified for self-photography by the use of a bite plate for positioning and cross hairs for focusing the subject's retina relative to the film plane. Dilation of the pupils without the use of mydriatics was accomplished by dark-adaption of the subject. Pictures were obtained without pupil constriction by the use of a high speed strobe light. This method also has applications for clinical medicine.
The properties and functions of the light-energy-transducing purple membrane of Halobacterium halobium are reviewed. Consideration is given to the protein structure and composition of the membrane and the photochemistry of the protein-retinal complex known as bacteriorhodopsin. The role of bacteriorhodpsin in establishing and maintaining an electrochemical (H(+)) gradient is examined, and interactions of this gradient with Na(+) and K(+) gradients, the light-induced transport of amino acids and the light-induced phosphorylation of ADP are considered. Bacteriorhodopsin and the respiratory chain are discussed as alternative sources of energy for the maintenance of the H(+) gradient. Advantages of the Halobacterium purple membrane system for studies of membrane energetics and the confirmation of the chemiosmotic hypothesis are also noted.
Rhode Island Red female chicks at 2 weeks posthatch were subjected, for 7 d, to either earth gravity of 1 G or a 2-G hypergravity environment by chronic whole-body centrifugation. Animals were sacrificed at 3 weeks posthatch and the eyes were enucleated, fixed in 10% BNF, doubly embedded, sectioned at 7-8 microns and routinely processed with H & E for histological examination. Compared to normogravity controls, animal exposure for 1 week to the chronic effects of 2-G resulted in a significantly decreased mean width of the photoreceptor, inner nuclear, and inner plexiform retinal layers. The outer nuclear, outer plexiform, and ganglion cell layers of the retina appeared minimally affected by the hypergravity state since the mean width of these layers showed no noticeable differences from earth gravity control animals. The present anatomic findings suggest a reduction in the detection of motion or rapid changes in illumination by the avian retina when the animal is exposed at a 2-G environment.