When the First Neuron of the Visual System Sets the Frame Rate (IMAGE)
Caption
Retinal neurons in the eye, called cone photoreceptors, transduce photons to electric signals, and set the "frame-rate" or timing of the visual information perceived by the foveal (central) and peripheral visual streams. In this illustration, information encoding the flight path of a butterfly is conveyed by cone photoreceptors depicted as old video cameras with clocks that have different gradations. The "foveal camera clock" has coarser gradations and the "camera reel" carrying information on the butterfly's flight to the brain with the highest spatial resolution has a slower frame rate -- half as many frames compared to the peripheral camera reel.
Credit
Jacob Baudin, artwork: Xiaoyun Wu
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