a ring of light is shined what will happen in on center gang

a ring of light is shined, what will happen in on center ganglion cells and off center ganglion cells?

Solution

Ganglion cells (GCs) are like CNS neurons, in that their contrast-detecting capabilities are enhanced by lateral inhibition provided by amacrine cells. On-center GCs produce more action potentials when stimulated by a bright light in the center of their receptive field, and are inhibited by stimuli delivered to the surround. Off-center GCs are stimulated by surround stimuli, and inhibited by center stimuli. Ganglion cells (GCs) are the first cells in the visual pathway to transmit action potentials The receptive field properties of ganglion cells are complex, as might be expected based on the fact that bipolar, horizontal and amacrine cells are inserted in the pathway between the photoreceptors and the ganglion cells i.e., photoreceptors detect the frequency, amplitude and location of a light source, but ganglion cells extract more complicated features of the stimulus. The wavelength and intensity information encoded by the photoreceptors is passed on to the ganglion cells, as predicted by labelled line theory. The bipolar cells (which generate graded potentials) either pass the signal from the photoreceptors essentially without modification (\"OFF\" response) or they invert it (\"ON\" response). The effects of lateral inhibition provided by the horizontal are evident even within the response to a simple light stimulus: blue light stimulates this ganglion cell, but red and white light inhibit it. lateral inhibition increases contrast, therefore GCs are wired to detect point-to-point differences in colour/intensity The receptive fields of ganglion cells are divided into the centre and the surround ganglion cells are divided into two categories: ON CELLS: stimulated by a stimulus to the centre, and inhibited by a stimulus in the surround diffuse light will cause a weak excitation OFF CELLS: inhibited by a stimulus to the centre, and stimulated by a stimulus in the surround diffuse light will cause weak inhibition. In addition to these differences in the fundamental nature of their receptive fields, ganglion cells also differ in the size of their receptive fields which determines acuity.