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Vision

Neurons show their true colours

Nature volume 467, pages 670–671 (2010)Cite this article

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How do we tell red from green? Work on the primate retina shows how neural circuitry combines signals from individual cone photoreceptor cells to provide the basic building blocks for colour vision. See Article p.673

The processing of visual information begins in the retina, where specialized neurons called photoreceptors absorb light and stimulate multiple neural circuits. Each circuit generates specific patterns of electrical activity and converges on one of about 20 types of retinal ganglion cell. These cells' axons — the optic nerve fibres — then convey signals to various brain targets. For colour vision, specific retinal circuits compare the activity levels of different types of cone photoreceptor cells that have different spectral sensitivities1. On page 673 of this issue, Field et al.2 describe simultaneous recordings from hundreds of ganglion cells, and a new method to map the inputs that these cells receive from individual cones. The results provide insight into the initial stages of colour vision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jonathan B. Demb is in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105, USA. jdemb@umich.edu,

    Jonathan B. Demb

  2. David H. Brainard is in the Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. brainard@psych.upenn.edu,

    David H. Brainard

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  1. Jonathan B. Demb
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  2. David H. Brainard
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Demb, J., Brainard, D. Neurons show their true colours. Nature 467, 670–671 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/467670b

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