The Role of the Pattern Edge in Goldfish Visual Motion Detection.
10.4196/kjpp.2010.14.6.413
- Author:
Sun Hee KIM
1
;
Chang Sub JUNG
Author Information
1. Natural Sciences Section, Department of Medical Lifescience, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 137-701, Korea. cjung@catholic.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Optomotor response;
Goldfish;
Edge;
Leading;
Motion detection
- MeSH:
Goldfish;
Light;
Lighting;
Track and Field
- From:The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
2010;14(6):413-417
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
To understand the function of edges in perception of moving objects, we defined four questions to answer. Is the focus point in visual motion detection of a moving object: (1) the body or the edge of the object, (2) the leading edge or trailing edge of the object, (3) different in scotopic, mesopic and photopic luminance levels, or (4) different for colored objects? We measured the Optomotor Response (OMR) and Edge Triggering Response (ETR) of goldfish. We used a square and sine wave patterns with black and red stripes and a square wave pattern with black and grey stripes to generate OMR's and ETR's in the goldfish. When we used black and red stripes, the black leading edges stimulated an ETR under scotopic conditions, red leading edges stimulated an ETR under photopic conditions, and both black and red leading edges stimulated an ETR under mesopic luminance levels. For black and gray stripes, only black leading edges stimulated an ETR in all three light illumination levels. We observed less OMR and ETR results using the sine wave pattern compared to using the square wave pattern. From these results, we deduced that the goldfish tend to prefer tracking the leading edge of the pattern. The goldfish can also detect the color of the moving pattern under photopic luminance conditions. We decided that ETR is an intriguing factor in OMR, and is suitable as a method of behavioral measurement in visual system research.