Polarization perception in humans: on the origin of and relationship between Maxwell's spot and Haidinger's brushes.

ABSTRACT: Under specific conditions of illumination and polarization, differential absorption of light by macular pigments is perceived as the entoptic phenomena of Maxwell's spot (MS) or Haidinger's brushes (HB). To simulate MS and HB, an existing computational model of polarization-dependent properties of the human macula was extended by incorporating neuronal adaptation to stabilized retinal images. The model predicted that polarized light modifies the appearance of MS leading to the perception of a novel phenomenon. The model also predicted a correlation between the observed diameters of MS and HB. Predictions were tested psychophysically in human observers, whose measured differences in the diameters of each entoptic phenomenon generated with depolarized and linearly polarized light were consis

SUBMITTER: Misson GP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6954220 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature