Nonlinear property of the visual system at fusion

The response of the visual system to intermittent stimulation at rates above the fusion point is generally considered to be independent of frequency, that is, linear with respect to time-average luminance. However, trains of 1000 light pulses per second alternated successively with trains of 500 light pulses per second may be perceived as flickering even though the time-average luminance is the same in each train.     

Temporal summation phenomena at threshold: their relation to visual mechanisms

Threshold energies were determined for brief flashes as a function of their duration in order to determine the maximum duration for which the flash intensity and duration could be varied reciprocally without affecting detectability (the Bunsen-Roscoe effect). A pair of threshold-level flashes for which reciprocity obtained in the determination of threshold were shown to be discriminable from each other at several imperfectly detectable energy levels. Thus equal detectability of flashes of equal energy does not imply identical neural responses to such stimuli. It is suggested that the summation reflects primarily the operation of the detection mechanism rather than of the peripheral visual mechanism. Some general implications for the interpretation of threshold measures are also discussed.     

Limulus rhodopsin: rapid return of transient intermediates to the thermally stable state

Spectral transitions of rhodopsin in single cells of the Limulus ventral eye were observed both with flash photometry and by measuring the early receptor potential. Even with repetitive stimulus flashes the rhodopsin did not bleach; after each flash the spectral intermediates decayed rapidly to the initial thermally stable state. The pigment returns to the stable state in a time comparable with the duration of the late receptor potential.     

脉冲强光处理对南阳酵母杀菌效果的影响

探讨了脉冲强光处理对南阳酵母菌的杀菌效果。结果表明,各因素的影响程度为:闪照次数>输入电压>透光率>菌液厚度。随输入电压和闪照次数的增大,杀菌率增加,低电压多闪照或高电压少闪照都具有较好的效果。2000V、64次闪照和3000V、4次闪照时,杀菌率都可达到100%。菌液厚度与菌液透光率也对杀菌率有影响,但只有当菌液厚度大于1cm或透光率小于50%时,其影响才比较明显。     

江苏地区雷电活动分布特征

利用江苏省气象部门提供的ADTD雷电探测系统2007年全年的闪电资料,分析了江苏地区闪电的月变化、日变化、季节变化等特征,并将所得结果与美国俄克拉荷马和堪萨斯州的闪电气候进行了对比。结果表明：江苏省云地闪中负闪占绝大多数。占总地闪的95．4％;地闪主要出现在夏季,占全年的92．8％,其中,8月份出现的地闪次数为全年之最,高达385817次,约占全年的45．7％;正地闪所占比例的月际变化与闪电次数正好相反,夏季正地闪所占的比例最小,而冬季正地闪所占比例较大;闪电的发生也有明显的日变化;雷电发生的主要时间段在各个季节是不同的,形成雷电的原因也不同。     

Male photuris fireflies mimic sexual signals of their females' prey

Photuris males emit flashed signals matching those of unrelated sympatric forms (Photinus and Pyractomena species). Some have only one flash pattern matching that of another species, others mimic at least two species, as well as emitting "their own" species-specific pattern. They tend to restrict the mimicking signals, but not their own, to the habitats, seasons, and daily periods of the mimicked species. Since Photuris females prey on males of other firefly species by mimicking their females' flashes, the Photuris males may be using their mimicry to locate and seduce their own hunting females. This mimicry is without known parallel in other animal communicative systems. It explains why the genus Photuris has been a frustrating mystery to taxonomists, who have long used flash patterns to distinguish sibling species in other genera.     

Rhodopsin photoproducts: effects on electroretinogram sensitivity in isolated perfused rat retina

Isolated perfused retinas of albino rats were exposed to brief saturating flashes of white light which bleached about 50 percent of the rhodopsin present. Transient photoproducts of the reaction could be detected for about 30 minutes. The b-wave threshold increased by some 3 logarithmic units immediately after the flash and remained stable at this level thereafter. This suggests that the longer-lived intermediate products of rhodopsin photolysis do not influence scotopic visual sensitivity.     

Metacontrast and saccadic suppression

A vertical slit of light illuminated during horizontal saccadic eye movements appeared as a horizontally extended smear when stimulation was terminated before the saccade ended. However, on trials for which duration of illumination of the slit was extended into the period after the saccade, the smear appeared shorter and dimmer, and a clear image of the slit was seen. With further increases in duration, no smears were seen at the highest luminance of the slit employed, although smears were more than 2 log units above threshold when flashes were brief. This saccadic suppression is discussed in terms of metacontrast, with the accumulated luminance in the period after the saccade primarily responsible for masking the effects of the stimulation received during the movement of the eye.     

Mechanism of rhythmic synchronous flashing of fireflies. Fireflies of Southeast Asia may use anticipatory time-measuring in synchronizing their flashing

In Thailand, male Pteroptyx malaccae fireflies, congregated in trees, flash in rhythmic synchrony with a period of about 560 +/- 6 msec (at 28 degrees C). Photometric and cinematographic records indicate that the range of flash coincidence is of the order of +/- 20 msec. This interval is considerably shorter than the minimum eye-lantern response latency and suggests that the Pteroptyx synchrony is regulated by central nervous feedback from preceding activity cycles, as in the human "sense of rhythm," rather than by direct contemporaneous response to the flashes of other individuals. Observations on the development of synchrony among Thai fireflies indoors, the results of experiments on phase-shifting in the American Photinus pyralis and comparisons with synchronization between crickets and between human beings are compatible with the suggestion.     

CORTICAL EVOKED POTENTIALS AND PERCEPTION OF PAIRED FLASHES

Digital computer techniques have been employed to extract cortical evoked potentials to paired visual stimuli. Changes in the evoked potentials have been related to perceptual phenomena varying as a function of the interval between flashes. Evoked potentials to paired stimuli, which gave rise to perceptual interactions, could be approximated by algebraic summation of the responses to the stimuli when presented separately.     

Optical imaging of a tactile illusion in area 3b of the primary somatosensory cortex

In the tactile funneling illusion, the simultaneous presentation of brief stimuli at multiple points on the skin produces a single focal sensation at the center of the stimulus pattern even when no physical stimulus occurs at that site. Consistent with the funneling percept, we show with optical imaging in area 3b of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) that simultaneous stimulation of two fingertips produces a single focal cortical activation between the single fingertip activation regions. Thus, in contrast to traditional views of the body map, topographic representation in the SI reflects the perceived rather than the physical location of peripheral stimulation.     

Modulation of elicited behavior by a fixed-interval schedule of electric shock presentation

Responding elicited in the squirrel monkey by electric shocks presented every 60 seconds was gradually altered in temporal patterning, especially when the shock was also produced by responses under a 30-second fixed-interval schedule. The initially elicited pattern of maximal responding just after each shock was altered by the recurrent shock and by the added fixed-interval schedule to a pattern of maximal responding just before each shock. Most shocks were produced by responses and the response pattern was maintained for several months, but little responding occurred when shocks were omitted.     

Bioluminescence: dual mechanism in a planktonic tunicate produces brilliant surface display

Luminescent flashes emanate spontaneously and on mechanical stimulation from the bodies of Oikopleura dioica (Urochordata, Larvacea); flashes also emanate, on mechanical stimulation only, from both their occupied and discarded mucous houses. The luminescence is intrinsic to the animals and their houses. Field observations suggest that, because of this dual method of light production, larvaceans may contribute substantially to surface coastal displays of marine bioluminescence.     

Somatically evoked magnetic fields of the human brain

The human brain is found to produce a magnetic field near the scalp which varies in synchrony with periodic electrical stimulation applied to a finger. Use of a highly sensitive superconducting quantum interference device as a magnetic field detector reveals that the brain's field is sharply localized over the primary projection area of the sensory cortex contralateral to the digit being stimulated. The phase of the response at the stimulus frequency varies monotonically with the repetition rate and at intermediate frequencies yields a latency of approximately 70 milliseconds for cortical response.     

Electroretinogram in response to x-ray stimulation

The retina of the grass frog, Rana pipiens, responds to flashes of highintensity x-rays and produces an electroretinogram indistinguishable in form from the electroretinogram produced in response to light stimulation at low and intermediate intensities. At higher intensities the form changes and, for maximal responses, the electroretinogram in response to x-rays shows a lower amplitude and a longer latent period than that in response to light. The prolonged latent period indicates additional intermediate reactions for the x-rays response.     

The photosynthetic unit of hydrogen evolution

A study of the absolute photoproduction of hydrogen by autotrophically grown Chlorella vulgaris with single-turnover flashes of light indicates that (i) while the Emerson and Arnold photosynthetic unit has the value chlorophyll: oxygen approximately 1700 : 1, the hydrogen analog of this unit has the value chlorophyll: hydrogen approximately 1400 : 1, and (ii) whereas the yield of oxygen from dark-adapted algal cells is zero on the first flash and then undergoes damped oscillations of period 4 about the steady-state value, the corresponding yield of hydrogen is fixed at the steady-state value from the first flash onward. These observations suggest that in the molecular mechanism of photosynthetic hydrogen evolution (i) the light reaction is at least 60 percent as efficient as the corresponding oxygen evolution reaction as measured by the ability to utilize absorbed visible quanta, and (ii) there are no sequential, photoproduced, metastable intermediates as there are in the case of oxygen evolution. Therefore, a minimum of two reducing equivalents from two different photosystems must have access to a common pool in producing molecular hydrogen if these photosystems each produce one electron per single-turnover flash.     

Breakdown of cortical effective connectivity during sleep

When we fall asleep, consciousness fades yet the brain remains active. Why is this so? To investigate whether changes in cortical information transmission play a role, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation together with high-density electroencephalography and asked how the activation of one cortical area (the premotor area) is transmitted to the rest of the brain. During quiet wakefulness, an initial response (approximately 15 milliseconds) at the stimulation site was followed by a sequence of waves that moved to connected cortical areas several centimeters away. During non-rapid eye movement sleep, the initial response was stronger but was rapidly extinguished and did not propagate beyond the stimulation site. Thus, the fading of consciousness during certain stages of sleep may be related to a breakdown in cortical effective connectivity.     

Parasympathetic ganglia: activation of an adrenergic inhibitory mechanism by cholinomimetic agents

Electrical stimulation of the sympathetic nerves to the urinary bladder or the intraarterial administration of the cholinomimetic substances acetylcholine or methacholine produced adrenergic inhibition in parasympathetic ganglia on the surface of the bladder. The inhibition appeared to be mediated, at least in part, via adrenergic inhibitory neurons located in the pelvic plexus. Atropine blocked the inhibitory response to injected cholinomimetic agents but did not alter the response to stimulation of the sympathetic nerves. Thus, the inhibitory neurons can be activated via both muscarinic and nonmuscarinic receptors, the latter being of primary physiological importance.     

Resistance shifts accompanying the evoked cortical response in the cat

Clicks and flashes that evoke an electrical response from the auditory or visual cortex also evoke a resistance shift in the tissue. The resistance shift, a drop followed by a rise in resistance, closely follows the temporal pattern of the electrical response recorded simultaneously through the same electrodes. While several experimental manipulations produce corresponding changes in the amplitudes of both electrical response and resistance shift, the resistance shift is more sensitive to alterations in cortical temperature and anesthetic level. The two responses behave distinctly differently as a function of the depth of the electrode in the cortex.     

Strategy-dependent encoding of planned arm movements in the dorsal premotor cortex

The kinematic strategy encoded in motor cortical areas for classic straight-line reaching is remarkably simple and consistent across subjects, despite the complicated musculoskeletal dynamics that are involved. As tasks become more challenging, however, different conscious strategies may be used to improve perceived behavioral performance. We identified additional spatial information that appeared both in single neurons and in the population code of monkey dorsal premotor cortex when obstacles impeded direct reach paths. The neural correlate of movement planning varied between subjects in a manner consistent with the use of different strategies to optimize task completion. These distinct planning strategies were manifested in the timing and strength of the information contained in the neural population code.