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Angular sensitivity of light and dark adapted locust retinula cells

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Summary

Angular sensitivity functions for light and dark-adapted locust retinula cells have been measured. The angular sensitivity for light-adapted cells follows a Gaussian function but in the dark-adapted condition the measured function is broader than Gaussian at its base. Acceptance angles for light-adapted cells are 1.5°±0.2° (horizontal), 1.4°±0.1° (vertical) and for dark-adapted cells, 2.4°±0.5° (horizontal) and 2.5°±0.4° (vertical). These values are significantly smaller than those previously reported and show the locust eye to be closer to its theoretical limit of resolution than was previously indicated.

The angular sensitivity of light-adapted cells agress well with the minimum resolvable stripe period reported by those authors refuting anomalous resolution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Martin Wilson

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  1. Martin Wilson
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Wilson, M. Angular sensitivity of light and dark adapted locust retinula cells. J. Comp. Physiol. 97, 323–328 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00631968

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00631968

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