Abstract
To understand colour vision in primates and man it is necessary to know the spectral sensitivities of the photoreceptors. However the action spectra of the cones cannot be determined directly from psychophysical measurements or from recordings from higher-order visual neurones. Micro-spectrophotometric measurements of the absorption spectra of the tiny amounts of visual pigments in single cones cannot be made reliably at absorptions less than about l/10th of the maximum, so that these measurements are restricted to a limited range of wavelengths. We have measured the spectral sensitivities of single rods and cones from the monkey Macaca fascicularis over the whole visible spectrum using suction electrodes to measure the light-sensitive current. The scotopic spectral sensitivity and colour matches of this animal are similar to those of humans (Blough & Schrier, 1963; Morgan, 1966; DeValois et al., 1974).
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© 1985 The Wenner-Gren Center
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Nunn, B.J., Schnapf, J.L., Baylor, D.A. (1985). The Action Spectra of Rods and Red-and Green-Sensitive Cones of the Monkey Macaca Fascicularis . In: Ottoson, D., Zeki, S. (eds) Central and Peripheral Mechanisms of Colour Vision. Wenner-Gren Center International Symposium Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08020-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08020-5_9
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