Seeing in the dark: High-order visual functions under scotopic conditions
Summary: It is unknown how and to what degree people function visually in almost complete darkness, where only rod photoreceptors are active (scotopic conditions). To explore this, we first tested scotopic acuity and crowding. We demonstrated the ∼1° foveal scotoma and found that crowding increases...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2024-02-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224001500 |
| _version_ | 1797338247126319104 |
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| author | Ayelet McKyton Deena Elul Netta Levin |
| author_facet | Ayelet McKyton Deena Elul Netta Levin |
| author_sort | Ayelet McKyton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: It is unknown how and to what degree people function visually in almost complete darkness, where only rod photoreceptors are active (scotopic conditions). To explore this, we first tested scotopic acuity and crowding. We demonstrated the ∼1° foveal scotoma and found that crowding increases with eccentricity, resulting in optimal scotopic discrimination 2° into the periphery. We then investigated whether these limitations affect high-level foveal tasks. We recorded eye movements while testing reading and upright/inverted face matching under photopic and scotopic conditions. Under scotopic conditions, participants read accurately and showed a face inversion effect. Temporally, fixation durations were longer. Spatially, surprisingly, participants did not avert their gaze 2° into the periphery. Instead, they fixated on similar locations as under photopic conditions, locations that were shown to correlate with global perception. We propose that this result suggests global perception governs under scotopic conditions, and we discuss how receptive-field properties support this conclusion. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:28:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cb824bcedec74d70b9627227b2bbabcc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:28:16Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-cb824bcedec74d70b9627227b2bbabcc2024-01-31T05:45:20ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422024-02-01272108929Seeing in the dark: High-order visual functions under scotopic conditionsAyelet McKyton0Deena Elul1Netta Levin2fMRI Unit, Department of Neurology, Hadassah Medical Organization and Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, IsraelfMRI Unit, Department of Neurology, Hadassah Medical Organization and Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, IsraelfMRI Unit, Department of Neurology, Hadassah Medical Organization and Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Corresponding authorSummary: It is unknown how and to what degree people function visually in almost complete darkness, where only rod photoreceptors are active (scotopic conditions). To explore this, we first tested scotopic acuity and crowding. We demonstrated the ∼1° foveal scotoma and found that crowding increases with eccentricity, resulting in optimal scotopic discrimination 2° into the periphery. We then investigated whether these limitations affect high-level foveal tasks. We recorded eye movements while testing reading and upright/inverted face matching under photopic and scotopic conditions. Under scotopic conditions, participants read accurately and showed a face inversion effect. Temporally, fixation durations were longer. Spatially, surprisingly, participants did not avert their gaze 2° into the periphery. Instead, they fixated on similar locations as under photopic conditions, locations that were shown to correlate with global perception. We propose that this result suggests global perception governs under scotopic conditions, and we discuss how receptive-field properties support this conclusion.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224001500Natural sciencesBiological sciencesNeuroscienceSystems neuroscienceSensory neuroscienceCognitive neuroscience |
| spellingShingle | Ayelet McKyton Deena Elul Netta Levin Seeing in the dark: High-order visual functions under scotopic conditions iScience Natural sciences Biological sciences Neuroscience Systems neuroscience Sensory neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience |
| title | Seeing in the dark: High-order visual functions under scotopic conditions |
| title_full | Seeing in the dark: High-order visual functions under scotopic conditions |
| title_fullStr | Seeing in the dark: High-order visual functions under scotopic conditions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seeing in the dark: High-order visual functions under scotopic conditions |
| title_short | Seeing in the dark: High-order visual functions under scotopic conditions |
| title_sort | seeing in the dark high order visual functions under scotopic conditions |
| topic | Natural sciences Biological sciences Neuroscience Systems neuroscience Sensory neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224001500 |
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