Abstract

It has been known for many years that not all electrical discharges arising from the retina are due to a light stimulus. Some occur as a result of the light being turned off. The "off" response of the retina was recorded in early electroretinographic studies (1-3) when the light stimulus used was not of such short duration as used in present studies with the xenon flash. The "off response is also a well recognized spike discharge from a certain population of retinal ganglion cells that only seem to respond when a light stimulus is terminated (4,5). Similar recordings have been characterized from the lateral geniculate nucleus (6), the pretectal pupillocontrictor centers (7), and the ciliary nerves (8,9).

© 1991 Optical Society of America