Why does one expect receptor noise to set thresholds?

One may expect receptor noise to set thresholds because phototransduction is metabolically costly (Laughlin, de Ruyter van Steveninck & Anderson, 1998), so that if it were not limiting selection would simply reduce expenditure on phototransduction.

What are the common types of cone pigments in vertebrates?

Vertebrate lineages often lose visual photopigments, for example many teleost fish along with most mammals have only two cone pigments, while snakes, crocodiles and geckos have three.

What is the effect of the oil droplets on the spectral tuning of light?

oil droplets cut off light of short wavelengths from a value around the sensitivity maximum of the opsin (Hart, 2001), and this appreciably sharpens spectral tuning.

What are the mechanisms that are involved in the comparison of receptor outputs?

Chromatic mechanisms involve the comparison of receptor outputs, while achromatic mechanisms involve only additive90 Almut Kelber, Misha Vorobyev and Daniel Osoriointeractions.

What is the way to demonstrate colour vision without knowledge of underlying receptors?

(5) Knowledge of photoreceptor sensitivities permits the use of simple experimental methods to demonstrate colour vision, to determine the number of receptors involved and to investigate subsequent neural processing.

What type of spiders have two types of photoreceptor cells?

Some vertebrates including various fish and amphibia express both retinal and dehydroxyretinal as the chromophore in a single class of photoreceptor or even a single cell (e.g. Firsov et al., 1994; Partridge & Cummins, 1999).

What is the relationship between spectral sensitivity and energy units?

(3)Usually relative rather then absolute sensitivity is important, in which case the constant hc is omitted, and spectral sensitivity is transformed from energy to quantum units by dividing by wavelength.

How can the authors measure the spectral sensitivities of photopigments?

absorption spectra of photopigments, and other visual media can be measured by spectrophotometry, and receptor spectral sensitivities can be estimated from these spectra.

What are the main types of visual photoreceptor cells in vertebrates?

In vertebrates, the two main types of visual photoreceptor cell, rods and cones, are distinguished by a number of morphological and physiological features (Cohen, 1972).

How did they train cats to distinguish between green and purple?

To find out whether the 500 nm receptor is used for colour vision, Kezeli et al. (1987) trained cats to discriminate a group of green from a group of purple stimuli.

What is the common type of opsin in the swallowtail butterfly?

The swallowtail butterfly (Papilio xuthus) has a complex set of photoreceptors, some of which co-express two opsin genes (Kitamoto et al., 1998).

What is the way to exclude achromatic signals?

Given the difficulties of excluding achromatic signals, a more practical method is to make intensity unreliable by testing discrimination for a range of relative intensities, or by adding intensity noise.

How did the experiment show that goldfishes can distinguish between UV-containing and UV-?

three lights were used to match ‘human-white ’ light missing UV and second, it was shown that goldfishes can discriminate UV-containing white from UVmissing white.

What was the method used with domestic chicks?

Osorio et al. (1999a) used this method with domestic chicks, choosing stimuli and illumination so that only two receptor types were active in each experiment.

Open AccessJournal Article10.1017/S1464793102005985

Animal colour vision — behavioural tests and physiological concepts

Almut Kelber, +2 more

- 01 Feb 2003

- Biological Reviews

- Vol. 78, Iss: 1, pp 81-118

878

TL;DR: An overview of the methods used to study animal colour vision is given, and how quantitative modelling can suggest how photoreceptor signals are combined and compared to allow for the discrimination of biologically relevant stimuli is discussed.

Abstract: Over a century ago workers such as J. Lubbock and K. von Frisch developed behavioural criteria for establishing that non-human animals see colour. Many animals in most phyla have since then been shown to have colour vision. Colour is used for specific behaviours, such as phototaxis and object recognition, while other behaviours such as motion detection are colour blind. Having established the existence of colour vision, research focussed on the question of how many spectral types of photoreceptors are involved. Recently, data on photoreceptor spectral sensitivities have been combined with behavioural experiments and physiological models to study systematically the next logical question: 'what neural interactions underlie colour vision?' This review gives an overview of the methods used to study animal colour vision, and discusses how quantitative modelling can suggest how photoreceptor signals are combined and compared to allow for the discrimination of biologically relevant stimuli.

AI Agents for this Paper

Find similar papers on Google Scholar, PubMed and Arxiv
Write a critical review of this paper
Analyze citations of this paper to find unaddressed research gaps

Most frequently asked questions

1. What have the authors contributed in "Animal colour vision – behavioural tests and physiological concepts" ?

Recently, data on photoreceptor spectral sensitivities have been combined with behavioural experiments and physiological models to study systematically the next logical question: ‘ what neural interactions underlie colour vision ? ’. This review gives an overview of the methods used to study animal colour vision, and discusses how quantitative modelling can suggest how photoreceptor signals are combined and compared to allow for the discrimination of biologically relevant stimuli.

2. What are the main spectral types of macaque retinal ganglion cells?

Macaque (Macaca macaca) retinal ganglion cells, which transmit signals up the optic nerve, do fall into three main spectral types : those coding mainly luminance, yellow-blue opponent cells, and the cells of the parvocellular pathway, which probably represent the red-green signal (Dacey, 2000).

3. What is the way to explain honeybee spectral sensitivity?

To explain honeybee spectral sensitivity one needs to assume at least two stage 2 mechanisms, which must be insensitive to intensity variation, and involve chromatic interactions between receptor signals.

4. Why have large numbers of biologically relevant stimuli been measured and used for modelling?

Due to the availability of cheaper spectrophotometers large numbers of biologically relevant stimuli have recently been measured and used for modelling.

Fig. 2. Relative sensitivities of photoreceptors (left), receptor spaces (middle), and chromaticity diagrams with monochromatic loci (right) for representative di- (A), tri-(B) and tetrachromatic eyes (C). Colour is represented as a point Q in the receptor space, where each co-ordinate axis corresponds to the quantum catches of very short- (VS), short(S), medium- (M) and long-wavelength-sensitive (L) receptors. Receptor spaces thus have n dimensions for visual systems with n receptors ; the four-dimensional receptor space can not be visualized. Chromaticity diagrams (right) where 3Q i ¯ 1, are projections of the receptor space to n®1 dimensions. A line (dashed) connecting Q with the origin intersects the chromaticity diagram (a line, for dichromats ; a plane, for trichromats, and a three-dimensional space, for tetrachromats) in a point qc. The vertices of chromaticity diagrams (VS, S, M, L) represent colours that are represented on the axes of the colour spaces (middle). Colour loci of monochromatic lights are represented by the dashed line, and plotted points every 10 nm (A, B) or 50 nm (C). NP in A indicates the neutral point of a dichromat, i.e. the wavelength of light that has the same chromaticicty coordinates as white light. See Appendix A for details of receptor spaces, and the corresponding chromaticity diagrams.

Fig. 3. Diagrams of contours of equal colour discriminability in trichromatic receptor space. Different contours are predicted by three models that have been used to fit experimental data (Fig. 5; Brandt & Vorobyev, 1997). The axes of the space correspond to quantum catches of short (S), medium (M) and long (L) wavelength-sensitive receptors. (A) One achromatic mechanism is used for colour discrimination, where the distance in colour space ∆S is given by ∆S #¯ (k S ∆q S k M ∆q M k L ∆q L )# . The three positive coefficients (i.e. k S , k M , k L ) denote the weights of the inputs of receptors to a mechanism, that might be deduced by fitting the model to experimental data (see Fig. 5). The dotted line indicates the axis in the colour space corresponding to this mechanism. The two planes orthogonal to the mechanism’s axis give contours of equal discriminability. (B) Discrimination is limited by noise in the three receptor mechanisms, with stage 2 mechanisms (see Fig. 1) absent or not adding noise. This is a Helmholtz line element. Distance in this colour space is given by ∆S #¯ g SS ∆q# S g MM ∆q# M g LL ∆q# L . The three

Fig. 1. (A) Diagram of a four-stage model of colour discrimination by a trichromatic eye (modified from Brandt & Vorobyev, 1997). Stage 1: responses of receptors (r, r«) sensitive to short (S), medium (M) and long (L) wavelengths of light, to reference and test stimuli. Stage 2: achromatic and}or chromatic interactions between signals. Three mechanisms are needed to represent all the information (x

Fig. 5. (A) Predictions of models of colour discrimination (solid lines) fitted to honeybee spectral sensitivity data (filled circles ; von Helversen, 1972). Geometrical interpretations of the models are illustrated in Figs 3 and 4. In each case, curves are least-squared best-fits for the model in question. (i) Discrimination by an achromatic mechanism (Fig. 3A). (ii) Discrimination limited by receptor noise without interactions between receptors (Fig. 3B). (iii) Discrimination limited by the most sensitive receptor mechanism, without interactions between receptors (Fig. 3C). (iv) Discrimination by two chromatic mechanisms (ellipse in Fig. 4C), and also dominance and city block models (parallelogram in Fig. 4C), which are indistinguishable for these data (see Section VI.3). Modified from Brandt & Vorobyev 1997. Only curve iv accurately describes the honeybee’s colour thresholds. (B) Spectral sensitivities of three vertebrates as predicted by the receptor-noise-limited colour opponent model (as curve iv above; see Appendix B): a dichromat, the tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri ; Jacobs & Neitz, 1986); a trichromat, human (Sperling & Harwerth, 1971); and a tetrachromat, Pekin robin, (Leiothrix lutea ; Maier, 1992). Each study had two subjects, indicated by separate symbols (o, ). Curves are displaced on the vertical axis for clarity. Modified from Vorobyev & Osorio (1998).

Table 2. Animal species (excluding primates) that have been shown to use colour vision in different behavioural experiments. As in the Introduction, we pose three questions, is colour vision used for a particual behaviour (q1)? How many spectral types of receptor are involved (q2)? How many chromatic mechanisms are found (q3)? Only experiments which give an answer (or at least an indication) to one of the questions are listed here. We note whether colour vision has been proved ( yes to q1) or there is only a strong indication (ind.) for colour vision. For example, spectral sensitivity curves per se do not provide proof of colour vision. The number of receptors and post-receptoral mechanisms (Fig. 1, stage 2) used for colour vision is given if it was determined by behavioural tests and}or model calculations (q2 and q3). Some experiments gave evidence that a specific receptor (VS, very short wavelength receptor; S short wavelength receptor; M medium wavelength receptor; L, long wavelength receptor) is involved, this is mentioned in the comment. Under method we give the type of experiment, the behaviour used to test the animal and whether spontaneous or trained behaviour was used. We refer to other review articles for some animal groups. For detailed descriptions of methods, see Sections V and VI

Fig. 4. Contours of equal discriminability in the chromaticity diagram of a trichromatic receptor space. (A) Colour (Maxwell) triangle (see Fig. 2B) specified by the surface in receptor space of a plane crossing receptor axes (representing quantum catches of receptors, q S , q M and q L ), at coordinates (1,0,0), (0,1,0) and (0,0,1). The chromaticity locus, qc, of a colour is the intersection of a line connecting the location of the colour in the receptor space, Q, with the origin and the triangle. (B) Spectral loci (in nm) for the honeybee in a colour triangle. See Fig. 2B. Axes X

Citations

•Journal Article•10.1016/S2095-3119(19)62767-X

Reproductive polyphenism and its advantages in aphids: Switching between sexual and asexual reproduction

Shuo Yan, +2 more

- 01 Jun 2020

- Journal of Integrative Agriculture

TL;DR: How the environmental cues orientate the reproductive mode of aphids from photoperiodic perception to endocrine regulation, and how juvenile hormones may act on the target cells to initiate the gametogenesis and embryogenesis in sexual and asexual reproduction are described.

...read moreread less

Book Chapter•10.1007/978-3-319-44978-4_11

Evolution of Color Vision

Almut Kelber, +1 more

- 01 Jan 2016

TL;DR: The extent and nature of animal color vision is examined, various structural features of eyes and photoreceptors that condition color vision are described, and specific cases where progress has been made toward understanding the functional utility ofcolor vision are commented on.

...read moreread less

•Journal Article•10.1177/2041669518767171

Colour for behavioural success

Birgitta Dresp-Langley, +1 more

- 18 Apr 2018

- I-perception

TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that evolutionary and environmental pressures influence not only colour trait production in the different species but also their ability to process and exploit colour information for goal-specific purposes.

...read moreread less

•Journal Article•10.1016/J.JINSPHYS.2017.06.006

Visual cues of oviposition sites and spectral sensitivity of Cydia strobilella L.

Johan Jakobsson, +4 more

- 01 Aug 2017

- Journal of Insect Physiology

TL;DR: It is calculated that open flowers, which are suitable oviposition sites, provide detectable achromatic, but almost no chromatic contrasts to the background of needles, which suggests visual contrast is probably not the primary cue for finding open host flowers.

...read moreread less

•Posted Content•10.1101/175992

Comparing colours using visual models

Rafael Maia, +1 more

- 18 Aug 2017

- bioRxiv

TL;DR: This work formalizes the two questions that must be answered to establish both the statistical presence and theoretical magnitude of colour differences, and proposes a two-step, permutation-based approach that achieves this goal.

...read moreread less

...

Expand

References

•Book

Color Science. Concepts and Methods, Quantitative Data and Formulas

Gunter Wyszecki, +2 more

- 01 Dec 1967

TL;DR: An encyclopedic survey of color science can be found in this article, which includes details of light sources, color filters, physical detectors of radiant energy, and the working concepts in color matching, discrimination, and adaptation.

...read moreread less

4.4K

•Journal Article•10.1007/BF01708548

Handbuch der physiologischen Optik

P. Cz.

- 01 Dec 1896

- Monatshefte für Mathematik

1.9K

Journal Article•10.2307/2421000

The Vertebrate Eye and Its Adaptive Radiation.

Alden H. Miller, +1 more

- 01 Jan 1943

- American Midland Naturalist

TL;DR: The conductivity bridge derives its bridge source from a self-contained vacuum tube oscillator adjusted to approximately 1,000 cycles as mentioned in this paper, which operates directly from the A.C. power source.

...read moreread less

1.5K

Journal Article•10.1146/ANNUREV.ENTO.46.1.471

The evolution of color vision in insects.

Adriana D. Briscoe, +1 more

- 01 Jan 2001

- Annual Review of Entomology

TL;DR: It is proposed that chance evolutionary processes, history, and constraints should be considered and quantifying variance between individuals and populations and using fitness measurements to test the adaptive value of traits identified in insect color vision systems are suggested.

...read moreread less

1.4K

Journal Article•10.1016/0042-6989(75)90203-5

Spectral sensitivity of the foveal cone photopigments between 400 and 500 nm

Vivianne C. Smith, +1 more

- 01 Feb 1975

- Vision Research

TL;DR: It is concluded that the shape of the iodopsin absorption spectrum provides a reasonable basis for computation of absorption spectra of the middleand long-wavelength sensitive cone pigments and that long-Wavelength sensitive cones of deuteranopes.

...read moreread less

1.3K

...

Expand

Animal colour vision — behavioural tests and physiological concepts

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper

Most frequently asked questions

1. What have the authors contributed in "Animal colour vision – behavioural tests and physiological concepts" ?

2. What are the main spectral types of macaque retinal ganglion cells?

3. What is the way to explain honeybee spectral sensitivity?

4. Why have large numbers of biologically relevant stimuli been measured and used for modelling?

5. Why does one expect receptor noise to set thresholds?

6. What are the common types of cone pigments in vertebrates?

7. What is the effect of the oil droplets on the spectral tuning of light?

8. What are the mechanisms that are involved in the comparison of receptor outputs?

9. What is the way to demonstrate colour vision without knowledge of underlying receptors?

10. What type of spiders have two types of photoreceptor cells?

11. What is the relationship between spectral sensitivity and energy units?

12. How can the authors measure the spectral sensitivities of photopigments?

13. What are the main types of visual photoreceptor cells in vertebrates?

14. How did they train cats to distinguish between green and purple?

15. What is the common type of opsin in the swallowtail butterfly?

16. What is the way to exclude achromatic signals?

17. How did the experiment show that goldfishes can distinguish between UV-containing and UV-?

18. What was the method used with domestic chicks?

Figures

Citations

Reproductive polyphenism and its advantages in aphids: Switching between sexual and asexual reproduction

Evolution of Color Vision

Colour for behavioural success

Visual cues of oviposition sites and spectral sensitivity of Cydia strobilella L.

Comparing colours using visual models

References

Color Science. Concepts and Methods, Quantitative Data and Formulas

Handbuch der physiologischen Optik

The Vertebrate Eye and Its Adaptive Radiation.

The evolution of color vision in insects.

Spectral sensitivity of the foveal cone photopigments between 400 and 500 nm

Related Papers (5)

Receptor noise as a determinant of colour thresholds.

The evolution of color vision in insects.

Comparing entire colour patterns as birds see them

Tetrachromacy, oil droplets and bird plumage colours

In search of the visual pigment template.