Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Visualizing Visual Adaptation
Published on: April 24, 2017
Lower-level visual processing and models of light adaptation
1Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA. don@psych.columbia.edu
Abstract:
Before there was a formal discipline of psychology, there were attempts to understand the relationship between visual perception and retinal physiology. Today, there is still uncertainty about the extent to which even very basic behavioral data (called here candidates for lower-level processing) can be predicted based upon retinal processing. Here, a general framework is proposed for developing models of lower-level processing. It is argued that our knowledge of ganglion cell function and retinal mechanisms has advanced to the point where a model of lower-level processing should include a testable model of ganglion cell function. This model of ganglion cell function, combined with minimal assumptions about the role of the visual cortex, forms a model of lower-level processing. Basic behavioral and physiological descriptions of light adaptation are reviewed, and recent attempts to model lower-level processing are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
The Retina
Vision
Anatomy of the Eyeball
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
Visual System
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...
Color Vision

