COLOUR SENSITIVITY, CONTRAST AND POLARITY OF THE RETINAL ELEMENTS

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Abstract
The micro-electrode technique and the cat''s retina have been used for a first analysis of the spectral sensitivity of well-isolated retinal elements during anodal and cathodal polarization. It was found that, depending upon the polarity, different spectral regions were enhanced or depressed so that polarization proved a convenient and very direct method of color analysis. The on-elements were sensitive to short wave lengths only, the off-elements to both long and short wave lengths; the on-off-elements had humps or depressions in various regions. The regions in which enhancements or depressions chiefly occurred were (in the order enumerated) 0.520, 0.600, 0.470 and 0.570 [mu], the humps in 0.600 [mu] being particularly large. The on- and off-components of the isolated spike of an on-off-element were often differentially sensitive to "contrasting" regions of the spectrum, suggesting that the two components are running in different but adjacent and well-synchronized fibres.

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