Abstract
Purpose: :
To develop a technique for measuring the psychophysical response of mice to flickering stimuli in small retinal regions and to apply this method to mice with mutations that affect the timing of photoreceptor responses and other retinal cell types.
Methods: :
Wheel-running WT mice (n = 4) were trained to associate a brief random flicker event in an otherwise steady-on 5.3°, 500 nm ventral-retinal stimulus with the availability of water at a licking spout. The flicker was modulated sinusoidally in time; its mean luminance was independent of frequency and amplitude. The flicker consisted, at all frequencies, of 4 oscillations. It was deemed detected if the mouse exited the wheel within two wheel turns after flicker termination. Modulation transfer functions (MTFs) and the critical flicker frequency (CFF) were determined using the method of constant stimuli.
Results: :
A
Conclusions: :
Our results strongly suggest that the properties of the temporal response of local regions of the mouse visual system can be measured and analyzed psychophysically, along experimental lines used in human studies.
Keywords: temporal vision • photoreceptors: visual performance • detection