Researchers at the University of Rochester used an imaging technology called adaptive optics to identify rare retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) that could help fill in the gaps in existing theories of color perception. RGCs transmit input from the retina's three types of light-sensing cone photoreceptor cells to the brain. The three cone types are sensitive to either short, medium, or long wavelengths of light.
The team leveraged adaptive optics, which uses a deformable mirror to overcome light distortion and was first developed by astronomers to reduce image blur in ground-based telescopes. In the 1990s, researchers at the U. of Rochester led by David Williams, Ph.D., began applying adaptive optics to study the human eye. They created a camera that compensated for distortions caused by the eye’s natural aberrations, producing a clear image of individual photoreceptor cells.
The team's latest research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, helps explain how the eye’s three cone photoreceptor types work together to allow humans to perceive color.