Rethinking the Process of Vision
A New Explanation for Light Interaction with the Retina of the Eye and the Vision Process
This BBC video above "Colorful Notions" from 1985 first summarizes the classical theory of color vision and follows with the ideas of Edwin Land who personally explains and demonstrates his experiments. It can be viewed as an introduction to this work.
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THE WRONG TURN….!
by Gerald Huth on September 5, 2009
Reading Pirenne’s Vision and the Eye (published by Chapman and Hall Ltd. 1948), chapter 16, Theory of Color Vision, where it can be almost pinpointed where the science of vision took a wrong turn.
From the section: Vision of the Trichromat on p.179, following the previous and correct insights of Young, Helmholtz et al describing the trichromicity of visual response:
“In the case of trichromat vision the situation is more complicated, but it can be said with logical certainty that the trichromats must possess at least three kinds of cones…….”.
(I am reminded here of a comment made years ago by a friend of mine about a colleague of his that “he was the most logical individual he had ever known but he was invariably wrong!)
I propose that the “logical certainty” argument of the statement arrives at an erroneous conclusion - it is not three kinds of light detecting “cones”, but really three kinds of light detection “centers”. In this work these centers are shown to be receptor appositions and not the cone or rod receptors themselves…..with, further, the organization of these centers demonstrating that the retina is a diffractive surface……..further still indicating clearly that the retina forms the Fourier (or focal) plane of the optics of the eye…….and on.
Light does not interact within receptors but between adjacent receptors.
The protein opsin within the receptors themselves plays a structural role in holding the retinal molecule – that is ubiquitous to all receptors – in the three (cone/cone, cone/rod, and rod/rod) light-accepting conformations.
Each of these individual light detection centers functions in what is termed the “near field” of light wavelength, i.e., in the spatial domain less than one micron. (in the fiberoptics analogy this means that light travels on the outside of a receptor/fiber)
In turn, the speed of the light detection process is extremely fast – in the femtosecond (or 10-15 sec) time domain.
There can be no doubt that the eye evolved to detect (interact with) the wave nature of light.
It was never that “photons…interact with pigments within receptors etc.) and the ensuing, nonsensical, “photon catch” hypothesis!
The process of quantization of light is effected at each of the hundreds of millions of light detection sites on the retina where the light wave is translated into a quantized electron particle.
The retina is a truly unique nanostructural array!
GCH
9.05.09