Melanopsin photoreception differentially modulates rod-mediated and cone-mediated human temporal vision

• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104529
• Publication Date: 2022-06-03T17:02:32Z
• Authors: Samir Uprety; Prakash Adhikari; Beatrix Feigl; Andrew J. Zele
• Keywords: Melanopsin; Summation; Facilitation

To evaluate the nature of interactions between visual pathways transmitting slower melanopsin and faster rod cone signals, we implement a temporal phase summation paradigm in human observers using photoreceptor-directed stimuli. We show that stimulation interacts with alters both rod-mediated cone-mediated vision regardless whether it is perceptually visible or not. Melanopsin-rod result either inhibitory facilitatory depending on frequency photoreceptor pathway contrast sensitivity. Moreover, by isolating vision, reveal bipartite intensity response property photopic lighting extends its operational range at lower frequencies to beyond classic saturation limits but expense attenuating sensitivity higher frequencies. In comparison, melanopsin-cone always lead facilitation. These can be described linear probability summations potentially involve multiple intraretinal cortical set