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The eye can adjust its sensitivity to light between 500,000 to 1 million times, allowing for effective vision in varying illumination. Proper retinal adaptation is crucial for detecting both light and dark areas, as maladjustment can lead to poor vision, such as when transitioning from a dark movie theater to bright sunlight. The eye can function effectively in both extreme lighting conditions, from bright sunlight to starlight, after appropriate adaptation.

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14 views1 page

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The eye can adjust its sensitivity to light between 500,000 to 1 million times, allowing for effective vision in varying illumination. Proper retinal adaptation is crucial for detecting both light and dark areas, as maladjustment can lead to poor vision, such as when transitioning from a dark movie theater to bright sunlight. The eye can function effectively in both extreme lighting conditions, from bright sunlight to starlight, after appropriate adaptation.

Uploaded by

phumudzoligege305
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Value of Light and Dark Adapta5on in Vision.

Between the limits of maximal dark adapta5on and maximal light adapta5on, the eye can
change its sensi5vity to light as much as 500,000 to 1 million 5mes, with the sensi5vity
automa5cally adjus5ng to changes in illumina5on. Because registra5on of images by the
re5na requires detec5on of both dark and light spots in the image, it is essen5al that the
sensi5vity of the re5na always be adjusted so that the receptors respond to the lighter areas
but not to the darker areas. An example of maladjustment of re5nal adapta5on occurs when
a person leaves a movie theater and enters the bright sunlight. Then, even the dark spots in
the images seem exceedingly bright, and as a consequence, the en5re visual image is
bleached, having liGle contrast among its different parts. This poor vision remains un5l the
re5na has adapted sufficiently so that the darker areas of the image no longer s5mulate the
receptors excessively. Conversely, when a person first enters darkness, the sensi5vity of the
re5na is usually so slight that even the light spots in the image cannot excite the re5na.
ALer dark adapta5on, the light spots begin to register. As an example of the extremes of
light and dark adapta5on, the intensity of sunlight is about 10 billion 5mes that of starlight,
yet the eye can func5on both in bright sunlight aLer light adapta5on and in starlight aLer
dark adapta5on

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