How a fly photoreceptor samples light information in time.
J Physiol
; 595(16): 5427-5437, 2017 08 15.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28233315
ABSTRACT
A photoreceptor's information capture is constrained by the structure and function of its light-sensitive parts. Specifically, in a fly photoreceptor, this limit is set by the number of its photon sampling units (microvilli), constituting its light sensor (the rhabdomere), and the speed and recoverability of their phototransduction reactions. In this review, using an insightful constructionist viewpoint of a fly photoreceptor being an 'imperfect' photon counting machine, we explain how these constraints give rise to adaptive quantal information sampling in time, which maximises information in responses to salient light changes while antialiasing visual signals. Interestingly, such sampling innately determines also why photoreceptors extract more information, and more economically, from naturalistic light contrast changes than Gaussian white-noise stimuli, and we explicate why this is so. Our main message is that stochasticity in quantal information sampling is less noise and more processing, representing an 'evolutionary adaptation' to generate a reliable neural estimate of the variable world.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Células Fotorreceptoras de Invertebrados
/
Dípteros
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Physiol
Año:
2017
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido