| Spatial contrast sensitivity and grating acuity of barn owls. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 19761328 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
The eyes of barn owls (Tyto alba pratincola) display very little aberrations, and have thus excellent optical quality. In a series of behavioral experiments, we tested whether this presumably beneficial feature is also reflected at a perceptual level in this species. As fundamental indicators for visual performance, the spatial contrast sensitivity function (CSF) and grating acuity were measured in two barn owls with psychophysical techniques. Stimulus luminance was 2.7 cd/m(2). The CSF found here renders the typical band-limited, inverted U-shaped function, with a low maximum contrast sensitivity of 8-19 at a spatial frequency of 1 cyc/deg. Grating acuity was estimated from the CSF high frequency cut-off and yielded 3.0-3.7 cyc/deg. In a second experiment, in which contrast was held constant and spatial frequency was varied, grating acuity was measured directly (2.6-4.0 cyc/deg). These results put barn owls at the very low end of the visual acuity spectrum of birds, and demonstrate that visual resolution and sensitivity cannot be predicted by optical considerations alone. |
| | |
Authors:
|
Wolf M Harmening; Petra Nikolay; Julius Orlowski; Hermann Wagner |
Related Documents
:
|
18484858 - Effect of binocular rivalry suppression on initial ocular following responses. 12854058 - Binocular summation to gratings in the peripheral field in older subjects is spatial fr... 2438118 - The effects of grating complexity on transient evoked potentials. 3407418 - On the processing rate of gratings superimposed on gratings. 18530118 - Acoustic focussing: how flying bats control spatial distribution of doppler-ranging err... 6646758 - An instrument for mapping corneal light-scattering characteristics. |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Journal Article Date: 2009-07-22 |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: Journal of vision Volume: 9 ISSN: 1534-7362 ISO Abbreviation: J Vis Publication Date: 2009 |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2009-09-18 Completed Date: 2009-12-11 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 101147197 Medline TA: J Vis Country: United States |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: 13 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
|
Department of Zoology and Animal Physiology, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany. wolf@bio2.rwth-aachen.de |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
Animals Contrast Sensitivity* Discrimination (Psychology) Male Psychophysics Space Perception Strigiformes / physiology* Vision, Ocular / physiology* Visual Acuity* |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Experimental validation of a Bayesian model of visual acuity.
Next Document: Perceived duration of visual motion increases with speed.