Table Of ContentSensory Systems I
Readings frQJTI the Encyclopedia ofN euroscience
Abnormal States of Brain and Mind
Selected and with an Introduction by J. Allan Hobsan
Comparative Neuroscience and Neurobiology
Selected and with an Introduction by Louis N. Irwin
Learning and Memory
Se Ieeted and with an Introduction by Richard F. Thompson
Sensory Systems 1: Vision and Visual Systems
Selected and with an Introduction by Richard Held
Sensory Systems II: Senses Other than Vision
Se Ieeted and with an Introduction by Jeremy Wolfe
Speech and Language
Selected and with an Introduction by Doreen Kimura
States of Brain and Mind
Se Ieeted and with an Introduction by J. Allan Hobsan
Readings from the
Encyclopedia ofN euroscience
Sensory Systems I
Vision and Visual Systems
Selected and with an Introduction by
Richard Held
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sensory systems I.
(Readings from the Encyclopedia of neuroscience)
.. A Pro scientia viva title."
Bibliography: p.
I. Vision. 2. Eye-Diseases and defects.
I. Held. Richard. II. Series.
QP475.S47 1988 591.1'823 88-19364
CIP-Titelaufnahme der Deutschen Bibliothek
Readings from the Encyclopedia of neuroscience.-Boston ;
Basel : Birkhäuser.
(A pro scientia viva title)
Sensory systems.
I. Vision and visual systems.-1988
Sensory systems.-Boston ; Basel : Birkhäuser.
(Readings from the Encyclopedia of neuroscience)
(A pro scientia viva title)
I. Vision and visual systems I selected and with an introd. by
Richard Held.-1988
ISBN 978-1-4899-6649-0 ISBN 978-1-4899-6647-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-6647-6
NE: Held, Richard [Hrsg.]
This collection is made up of articles from the Encyc/opedia of Neuroscience. edited by George Adelman,
© 1988 by Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Birkhäuser Boston, Inc. in 1988
Copyright is not claimed for works by U.S. Govemment employees.
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ISBN 978-1-4899-6649-0
Series Preface
This series of books, "Readings from the Encyclopedia of Neuroscience," consists of
collections of subject-clustered articles taken from the Encyclopedia of Neuroscience.
The Encyclopedia of Neuroscience is a reference source and compendium of more than
700 articles written by world authorities and covering all of neuroscience. We define
neuroscience broadly as including all those fields that have as a primary goal the under
standing ofhow the brain and nervous system work to mediate/control behavior, including
the mental behavior of humans.
Those interested in specific aspects of the neurosciences, particular subject areas or
specialties, can of course browse through the alphabetically arranged articles of the En
cyclopedia or use its index to find the topics they wish to read. However, for those
readers-students, specialists, or others-who will find it useful to have collections of
subject-clustered articles from the Encyclopedia, we issue this series of "Readings" in
paperback.
Students in neuroscience, psychology, medicine, biology, the mental health professions,
and other disciplines will find that these collections provide concise summaries of cutting
edge research in rapidly advancing fields. The nonspecialist reader will find them useful
summary statements of important neuroscience areas. Each collection was compiled, and
includes an introductory essay, by an authority in that field.
George Adelman
Editor,
Encyclopedia ~f Neuroscience
Contents
Series Preface V
Introduction
Richard Held XI
Amblyopia: Dullness of Vision
Theodore Lawwill ............................................................... .
Attention, Selective Visual
Shimon Ullman and Christo! Koch 3
Blindness, Neural Prosthesis
G.S. Brindley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Blindsight, Residual Vision
Ernst Pöppel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Brightness
Lewis 0. Harvey, Jr. 7
Colliculus, Superior
Peter H. Schiller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Color Vision
Nigel W. Daw 10
Color Vision, Deficiencies
Leo M. Hurvich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Color Vision and Retinex Theory
Edwin H. Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Cone Photoreceptors, Color Specificities
Teruya Ohtsuka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Electroretinogram, Electroretinography
lohn C. Armington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Eye-Head Coordination
Emilio Bizzi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Fly, Visual System
Kuno Kirschfeld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Fly, Visually lnduced Behavior
Werner Reichardt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Gaze, Control of
Reuben S. Gellman and Frederick A. Mi/es 30
Gase, Plasticity in the Control of
Frederick A. Mi/es and Reuben S. Gellman 31
viii Contents
Genieulate Body, Lateral
Pedro Pasik and Tauba Pasik 33
Imagery, Mental
Stephen M. Kosslyn 35
Nystagmus
Volker Henn 37
Oeulomotor System, Meehanisms
Masao lto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Optie Nerves, Optie Chiasm, and Optic Traets
Christopher Walsh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Optie Teeturn
David 1. lngle 44
Reading
Marcel Kinsbourne 46
Retina, Neurotransmitters
Dianna A. Redburn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Retina, Vertebrate
lohn E. Dowling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Retina! Ganglion Cells
Mark Wm. Dubin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Retinateetal Interaetions
S.C. Sharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Stereopsis, Binoeular Pereeption
lohn P. Frisby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Strabismus: Oeular Malalignment
Theodore Lawwill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Striate Cortex
Peter H. Schiller 61
Texture Pereeption
Beta lulesz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Vision, Deprivation Studies
Nigel W. Daw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Vision, Extragenieulostriate
Tauba Pasik and Pedro Pasik 67
Vision, Visual Cortex, and Frequeney Analysis
Daniel A. Pollen and lames P. Gaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Visual Adaptation, Dark, Light
lohn C. Armington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Visual Aftereffeets
leremy M. Wolfe 74
Visual Cortex
Max Cynader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Visual Cortex, Extrastriate
David C. Va n Essen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Contents IX
Visual Development, Infant
Richard Held . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Visual Field
Ernst Pöppel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Visual Learning, Pattern and Form Perception: Centrat Mechanisms
Howard C. Hughes and James M. Sprague . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Visual Motion Perception
Shimon Ullman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Visual Perception
Jeremy M. Wolfe 93
Visual System, Organization
lohn Allman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Visual System, Siamese Cats
Carla 1. Shatz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Visual System Development, lnvertebrates
Eduardo R. Macagno and /an A. Meinertzhagen 103
Visual System Development, Plasticity
Paul Grobstein and Kao Liang Chow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I 07
Visual Transduction
Gordon L. Fain and Wayne L. Hubbell 110
Visual-Vestibular Interaction
Volker Henn 114
Contributors 117
Introduction
Having found the articles on vision in the Encyclopedia of Neuroscience useful myself,
I was pleased to write a short introduction to this collection, which has been culled from
the Encyclopedia. These are brief, informative papers, written by experts in the field,
who have extracted the essence of recent vision research and presented the material in
terms which will be broadly informative to students, but also provide enough hard data
to satisfy the ready-reference needs of people in the field. The publisher and I believe
that there is a significant number of readers who will appreciate the availability of these
papers as a collection of readings, a convenient and valuable source for information in
the field of vision and vision research.
Who are these readers? First there are students in neuroscience, medicine, and psy
chology who will find these succinct and up-to-date articles a good resource to supplement
their more general textbooks. Second, there are vision scientists and practitioners
(ophthalmologists, optometrists), who on occasion need a source for state-of-the-art in
formation for areas with which they may be unfamiliar or may have lost touch. Third,
there are the scientists, artists, and other professionals who have a passing interest in
vision and need an occasional reference at the Ievel of detail provided by an Encyclopedia
article. And then there are always students of vision who can profit by the substance and
perspective given by different writers on their own special topics. That experts in the
field wrote these articles is reflected in their brevity as weil as in their quality. Only a
writer weil versed in an area can extract its essence. These authors have done just that.
The study of vision has sometimes been called the royal road to an understanding of
the brain and nervous system. This metaphor acknowledges the beliefthat we know most
about this aspect of brain function. Furthermore, it implies that principled knowledge
derived from study of the visual brain may apply to our understanding of other parts of
the brain and their function. lt may be useful to consider the reasons for this assessment.
A vast amount of work on vision, using behavioral and psychophysical methods, has
accumulated over the past century. Far more effort has gone into research on vision than
on any other sense, including its nearest competitor-hearing. This knowledge provides
a background of technique and quantitative data which has been applied to the study of
the "visual" nervous system, the !arge amount of brain involved in some aspect of vision
or visual processing. In suitable Iabaratory preparations, cells of the visual nervous system
respond quite systematically to visual stimulation just as do whole organisms. Moreover,
such stimulation is easily controlled and may range from gross changes in luminance to
fine nuances of pattem and color. By these Stimulationexperiments at the cellular Ievel,
a vast amount of knowledge has been collected about the Iransmission and processing of
information within the nervous system as a whole as weil as the visual nervous system
in particular. Neuronal activation by Stimulation has also been used to delineate anatomical
connections by the use of substances (cell stains, radioactive tracers, etc.) that selectively
mark the most activated cells in the system. We now know a great deal about the anatomical
''wiring diagram'' of the visual brain, especially about the major pathways for Iransmission
of information, and much has been discovered about the physiology of cells and their
synaptic connections. And, finally, we have increasing insight into the process of de
velopment, which lays down the connections within the system and the deviations from
