SOME MECHANISMS OF COLOR RECEPTION FOUND BY ANALYSING THE ELECTRORETINOGRAM OF FROG

PART II. CREST TIMES OF OFF-RESPONSES AS A FUNCTION OF WAVE-LENGH OF LIGHT

Abstract

In order to clarify the relations between the off-response in electroretinogramof the isolated frog's eye and color perception some new analysis wasperformedby using the spectral lights of equal energy and different intensities.
1. The rapidity of off-response was variable to a marked degree accordingto the wave-length of stimulating light. The “time required for the crest” ofoff-response to be reached after the cessation of light generally became longeras the wave-length became shorter. However, towards the violet end of thespectrum there occurred a sudden shortening of the crest time. The same relationwas observable in the latency of off-response too.
2. The rapidity was influenced by the intensity of the stimulating light.In a case of illumination of short duration (1-2 sec.) the crest time becamelonger almost in proportion to the logarithms of intensities of the appliedstimuli.
3. However, a wide change in the intensity did not alter the regular patternin the rapidity of off-response for monochromatic lights of different wave-lengths.The crest-time for different colors became comparable by equalizing the sizeof b-waves which affected more or less the rapidity of off-response throughoutthe spectrum.
4. Finally some correlations between the above results were discussed to geta clearer view of all the results of this experiment.
5. The results of both the first and second parts of this study led to theconclusion that the off-response contains several components for red, orange, violet, green and blue etc., and they appear in time order cited here.