Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 2: Neurophysics I

BP 2.1: Talk

Monday, March 16, 2015, 09:30–09:45, H 1058

The vertebrate retina as an optical image processor — •Moritz Kreysing — Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, 01307 Dresden, Germany

The neuronal processing capabilities of the vertebrate retina are increasingly well understood. These processes are thought to be initiated by the detection of light by the photoreceptors as projected by the lens. However, recent findings show that cells inside the light path give rise to fine changes in these projected images prior to the detection event. Using the concept of modulation transfer function analysis, we firstly describe the neuronal retina as a frequency domain, optical image processor. Based on direct measurements we discuss to which extend demodulation of transmitted image frequencies must be understood as the result of simple contrast loss due to scattering. We further analyze transmitted light fields for newly generated image frequencies, and discuss these in relation to the retina's optical architecture and possible benefits for vision under low light conditions.