Abstract

Electroretinographic (ERG) and incremental-threshold [threshold-versus-intensity (tvi)] data have been used to infer mechanisms of development. For a hypothesis about development to be tested, the hypothesis must be specified in the context of a model of the adult visual system. Here, published ERG and tvi data obtained from infants are analyzed in the context of models with two sites. The first site in each of these models has the properties of the rod receptors. By a combination of hypotheses about development and these models, other hypotheses are considered. Taken together, the ERG and tvi data are consistent with a scheme in which developmental changes during the first 18 weeks occur largely, if not entirely, in the retina. Some of these changes may be receptoral in origin. The need for explicit adult models and explicit developmental hypotheses is emphasized.

© 1988 Optical Society of America

Spectral sensitivity and chromatic discriminations in 3- and 7-week-old human infants

John E. Clavadetscher, Angela M. Brown, Corlene Ankrum, and Davida Y. Teller
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5(12) 2093-2105 (1988)

Saturation of rod-initiated signals in 2-month-old human infants

Angela M. Brown
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5(12) 2145-2158 (1988)

Optical and photoreceptor immaturities limit the spatial and chromatic vision of human neonates

Martin S. Banks and Patrick J. Bennett
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5(12) 2059-2079 (1988)

Analysis of the development of spatial contrast sensitivity in monkey and human infants

J. Anthony Movshon and Lynne Kiorpes
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5(12) 2166-2172 (1988)

Aging and luminance-adaptation effects on spatial contrast sensitivity

Michael E. Sloane, Cynthia Owsley, and Cheryl A. Jackson
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5(12) 2181-2190 (1988)