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    The Human Eye

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    Kajetano Graucos
    The document describes the structure and functions of the human eye. It details the various layers of the eye including the sclera, choroid, retina, cornea, conjunctiva, iris, pupil, optic nerve, lens, suspensory ligaments, and ciliary muscle. It explains how light enters the eye and is refracted by the cornea and lens to focus an image on the retina. The document also describes how the lens changes shape through accommodation to focus on near and far objects. Finally, it provides details on the rod and cone cells in the retina, their roles in vision, and how they enable both low-light monochromatic vision and high-resolution color vision respectively.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The Human Eye

    Uploaded by

    Kajetano Graucos
    14 views3 pages
    The document describes the structure and functions of the human eye. It details the various layers of the eye including the sclera, choroid, retina, cornea, conjunctiva, iris, pupil, optic nerve, lens, suspensory ligaments, and ciliary muscle. It explains how light enters the eye and is refracted by the cornea and lens to focus an image on the retina. The document also describes how the lens changes shape through accommodation to focus on near and far objects. Finally, it provides details on the rod and cone cells in the retina, their roles in vision, and how they enable both low-light monochromatic vision and high-resolution color vision respectively.

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    The document describes the structure and functions of the human eye. It details the various layers of the eye including the sclera, choroid, retina, cornea, conjunctiva, iris, pupil, optic nerve, lens, suspensory ligaments, and ciliary muscle. It explains how light enters the eye and is refracted by the cornea and lens to focus an image on the retina. The document also describes how the lens changes shape through accommodation to focus on near and far objects. Finally, it provides details on the rod and cone cells in the retina, their roles in vision, and how they enable both low-light monochromatic vision and high-resolution color vision respectively.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    14 views3 pages

    The Human Eye

    Uploaded by

    Kajetano Graucos
    The document describes the structure and functions of the human eye. It details the various layers of the eye including the sclera, choroid, retina, cornea, conjunctiva, iris, pupil, optic nerve, lens, suspensory ligaments, and ciliary muscle. It explains how light enters the eye and is refracted by the cornea and lens to focus an image on the retina. The document also describes how the lens changes shape through accommodation to focus on near and far objects. Finally, it provides details on the rod and cone cells in the retina, their roles in vision, and how they enable both low-light monochromatic vision and high-resolution color vision respectively.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    The Human Eye

    STRUCTURE AND ROLES

    Sclera: the tough and fibrous outer layer of the eye.

    Choroid layer: the middle layer of the eye. It contains blood vessels and melanin pigment.

    Retina: the inner layer of the eye. It contains light-sensitive rod and cone cells.

    Cornea: the front, transparent part of the sclera that refracts light rays entering the eye.

    Conjunctiva: a membrane surrounding the cornea, lubricated by watery tear fluid.

    Iris: a modification of the choroid layer at the front of the eye. It contains smooth radial muscle and
    circular muscle. Contraction and relaxation of the iris muscles change the change the size of the pupil
    and allow variable amounts of light to enter the eye.

    Pupil: a hole in the iris that becomes wider in dim light.

    Optic nerve: conveys nerve signals to the brain. (The light-sensitive rod and cone cells in the retina
    connect to sensory neurones that leave the retina at the blind spot and form the optic nerve).

    Lens: a transparent disc of tissue that changes shape for near or far vision.

    Suspensory ligaments: holds lens within the ring of ciliary muscle.

    Ciliary muscle: a ring of muscle that alters the shape of the lens.

    Aqueous humour: a clear, watery fluid in front of the lens.

    Vitreous humour: a clear, jelly-like fluid behind the lens.

    (http://blogs.hightechhigh.org/mhansen2014/files/2014/05/pic-eye-anatomy.jpg)

    FOCUSING LIGHT

    When light rays enter the eye they are refracted (bent). First, the light is refracted by the cornea at the
    front of the eye. Most of the refraction occurs here because it is curved. The light is then refracted
    further by the lens, which focuses (converges) the light so that it forms a clear image on the retina.

    There are three refracting surfaces: the cornea, the front surface of the lens, and the rear surface of
    the lens.

    ACCOMMODATION

    Definition: the flattening or thickening of the lens by the ciliary muscles depending on the distance
    of an object from the eye.
    Accommodation causes light to be refracted to a greater or lesser extent depending on how far the
    object is from the eye.

    DISTANT OBJECTS

    Light rays from a distant object are almost parallel when they enter the eye and these need a thin lens
    to focus them on the retina. When you look at a distant object the ciliary muscles relax, pulling the
    suspensory ligaments taut. The lens, which is made of flexible proteins, is pulled into a thin shape.

    NEAR OBJECTS

    Light rays from a near object enter the eye at a more acute angle and these need a thicker lens to focus
    them on the retina. When you look at a near object the ciliary muscles contract, causing the suspensory
    ligaments to become looser. This allows the lens to return to its natural round, fat shape. This refracts
    the light rays more so that they can be focused on the retina.

    RECEPTOR CELLS: RODS & CONES

    Definition: a receptor cell is able to detect changes in the environment, converting sensory
    information into a form that can be transmitted to the central nervous system. In the eye, these
    are the rod and cone cells.

    RODS

    Definition: photoreceptors that are responsible for vision at low light intensities. They are mostly
    found in the retina, spread evenly across it.

    ACTION POTENTIALS

    Rod cells contain the light-sensitive pigment rhodopsin. When light hits a rod cell it causes the
    rhodopsin to split into opsin and retinal. This process is called bleaching. As a result of bleaching, the
    permeability of the rod cell to sodium ions is altered. The rod cell membrane becomes depolarised (a
    generator potential).

    If this potential is enough to overcome the threshold value, an action potential is generated in the
    sensory neurone which carries the nerve impulse along the optic nerve to the brain. After this, the
    rhodopsin is regenerated - this process requires ATP.

    MONOCHROMATIC VISION

    Rod cells are extremely sensitive to low light intensities, so they are most useful for vision in dim light.
    However, they cannot distinguish between different wavelengths, meaning they only produce images in
    black and white. This is called monochromatic vision.

    LOW VISUAL ACUITY

    Several rod cells synapse with just one sensory neurone. Therefore, rod cells have low visual
    acuity, e.g. they cannot discriminate very well.
    However, this grouping of red cells together also increases their sensitivity, which is why they can detect
    low levels of light. If each of several rod cells results in a tiny amount of neurotransmitter being released
    into the synaptic cleft, these small amounts 'add together' so that there is enough to set up an action
    potential in the sensory neurone. This is called summation.

    CONES

    Definition: photoreceptors that are responsible for colour vision and ones which function best in
    bright light conditions. They are mostly concentrated at the fovea.

    TRICHROMATIC COLOUR THEORY

    Cone cells have a similar structure to rod cells. However, they contain a pigment called iodopsin instead.
    There are three different kinds of iodopsin, each sensitive to red, green or blue light.

    Different colours are perceived depending on the proportion of the different types of cone cell that are
    stimulated. E.g. if red and green cones are stimulated equally, the brain interprets the colour as yellow.
    This is called the trichromatic theory of colour vision.

    HIGH VISUAL ACUITY

    Most cones have an individual connection to a sensory neurone, meaning that they have a much
    greater visual acuity than rods. They are therefore responsible for all high-resolution vision.

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