Determinants of the spatial properties of cone-rod interaction

Rod-cone interaction in monocular but not binocular pathways

Photopic background stimulation elevates scotopic increment thresholds (rod-cone interaction) at moderate background levels when both test and concentric disk-background stimuli enter the same eye (monocular condition) but not when they enter different eyes (dichoptic condition). Only when background levels are made extremely high is there any measurable dichoptic interaction, and this interaction does not resemble that observed monocularly. Rod-cone interaction, as usually studied, is a property of monocular pathways in human vision.

Spatial extent of rod-cone and cone-cone interactions for flicker detection

Over a large range of light adaptation levels, sensitivity to 25 Hz flicker improves as the light level of the background increases. Using small background discs and annular surrounds, this effect was shown to be mediated by the surround and not the average luminance of the test region, in agreement with recent reports. The effect is due to two types of lateral interaction: at mesopic light levels (from 0.1 to 1.0 td), cone-mediated flicker resolution is enhanced by the stimulation of surrounding rods; at photopic light levels (above 10 td), flicker sensitivity improves with light stimulation of adjacent cones. The spatial zone, or extent, over which the surround contributes to the flicker threshold was measured. The spatial area over which rods influence the cone 25 Hz flicker threshold is larger than the analogous spatial area of cone influence. In the parafovea, at 5 deg eccentricity, cone flicker sensitivity for a 20' spot is influenced by cones in a 1 deg diameter area centered on the spot; the corresponding area of rod influence is about 3 deg. In the fovea, flicker sensitivity for a 10' spot is influenced by cone stimulation in an area of about 20' diameter. Rods which affect foveal flicker sensitivity appear to occupy an annular zone with about a 2 deg outer diameter and 1 deg inner diameter, centered on the fovea.