This preprint presents new insights on visual processing in the retina, specifically how signals from rod photoreceptors are handled. Our visual system must operate over a huge range of light intensities, about 9 log units in the course of a day. In adaptation to this challenge the retina uses two kinds of photoreceptors: In the dimmest conditions only the sensitive rods are active, in the brightest conditions only the cones. In between the retina gradually switches from one input neuron to the other. However, even before the cones take over, the rod pathway undergoes substantial changes with increasing light level: the gain decreases and the speed of processing increases. This article challenges the prevailing notion of how those changes are accomplished.

Continue reading “Open review: WN Grimes et al., Rod signaling in primate retina – range, routing and kinetics” →