12 ms·

I wonder these cells do when they detect an object approaching. Is this the reflex for closing the eyelids, or something else?

• a-priori 17y ago
  This article doesn't get into the behavioural response to this, because they're solely concerned with characterizing things at the cellular level. Personally, I doubt this would cause the eyelids to close (stimulation of the eyelashes already does this). It may activate the startle reflex, or perhaps initiate a saccade to focus the eyes on the stimuli. More research will surely follow to figure out exactly what behavioural role this information plays. It's already known, for example, that cells in V1 (primary visual cortex) respond to similar motion. Either the V1 cells receive input from these ganglion cells, or their function is somehow complementary to this (a different time scale, for example). Also interesting, this new finding directly contradicts existing research: "It is generally assumed that there is no sizable proportion of motion detectors in the primate retina." (Bach and Hoffman, 1999; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0042-6989(00)00106-1 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0042-6989(00)00106-1)