Volume 2, Number 8, Article 2, Pages 543-558 doi:10.1167/2.8.2 http://journalofvision.org/2/8/2/ ISSN 1534-7362
The multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) and cone isolating stimuli: Variation in L- and M-cone driven signals across the retina
Johannes Albrecht
Division of Experimental Ophthalmology, University Eye Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
[e-mail]
Herbert Jägle
Division of Experimental Ophthalmology, University Eye Hospital, Tübingen, Germany
[e-mail]
Donald C. Hood
Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
[e-mail]
Lindsay T. Sharpe
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
[e-mail]
Abstract

Multifocal electroretinograms (mfERG) were recorded from 38 normal trichromats with a pattern-reversing display that modulated only their long-wavelength sensitive (L) or only their middle-wavelength sensitive (M) cones at equal cone contrasts and average quantal catches. The display consisted of scaled, 103 hexagonal elements, subtending 84° x 75° of visual angle. Typically, the amplitude of the L-cone driven signal was greater than that for the M-cone driven one at all retinal eccentricities, but large differences were found among observers. These values correlated with L- to M-cone ratios obtained psychophysically in the same observers using 2° (dia.) heterochromatic flicker photometry. Interestingly, the L- to M-cone driven amplitude ratios differed between the central and peripheral retina. For the central fovea (5° dia.), the mean ratio was 1.4 ± 0.6 (for the N1P1 component), whereas for the annular ring centered at 40° in the periphery, it was 2.3 ± 2.0. The mean P1 latency of the summed M-cone driven mfERG (28.0 ± 2.6 ms) was significantly advanced relative to the L-cone driven signal (29.0 ± 1.9 ms), but the mean N1 latencies were similar (15.6 ± 1.7 ms and 16.2 ± 1.3 ms, respectively). The P1 latency difference between the L- and M-cone driven waveforms was not found in the central 5° (dia.) of the retina. However, it increased with retinal eccentricity. The regional differences in the amplitudes and latencies of the L- and M-cone driven mfERG signals can be related to variations in the L- to M-cone ratios and/or the receptor to bipolar gain factors that depend on eccentricity.

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History
Received July 30, 2001; published November 25, 2002
Citation
Albrecht, J., Jägle, H., Hood, D. C., & Sharpe, L. T. (2002). The multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) and cone isolating stimuli: Variation in L- and M-cone driven signals across the retina. Journal of Vision, 2(8):2, 543-558, http://journalofvision.org/2/8/2/, doi:10.1167/2.8.2.
Keywords
color vision, cones, retinal cone mosaic, electroretinography (ERG), multifocal electroretinography (mfERG)
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