Spatial and temporal response properties of the major retino-geniculate pathways of Old and New World monkeys.
Old World monkeys, apes and humans all enjoy trichromatic colour vision, and the absorption spectra of the photopigments are very similar in all species and all individuals. Colour vision in New World monkeys however, is very heterogeneous. In many species, the majority of individuals is dichromatic. Recently, anatomical and electrophysiological studies revealed that the retinal organisation in Old World monkeys and New World monkeys is very similar, although the cells belonging to the parvocellular pathway do not show any colour opponency and their spectral sensitivity is similar to that of the magnocellular cells. Apparently, the magnocellular and parvocellular pathways in the retina and the LGN have not developed as an adaptation to luminance and chromatic processing. It is more likely that the two pathways originally evolved to cover different ranges in the spatio-temporal domain. In the present paper, several spatial and temporal properties of parvo- and magnocellular cells (which are identical for dichromatic and trichromatic animals) are compared.
Kremers
J
J
Dept. of Experimental Ophthalmology, University of Tübingen Eye Hospital, Germany. jan.kremers@uni-tuebingen.de
D000818:Animals; D002144:Callithrix / Q000502:physiology*; D002520:Cercopithecidae / Q000502:physiology*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods; D005829:Geniculate Bodies / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*