Universality of Form: The Case of Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Mosaics

Abstract

Cone photoreceptor cells are wavelength-sensitive neurons in the retinas of vertebrate eyes and are responsible for color vision. The spatial distribution of these nerve cells is commonly referred to as the cone photoreceptor mosaic. By applying the principle of maximum entropy, we demonstrate the universality of retinal cone mosaics in vertebrate eyes by examining various species, namely, rodent, dog, monkey, human, fish, and bird. We introduce a parameter called retinal temperature, which is conserved across the retinas of vertebrates. The virial equation of state for two-dimensional cellular networks, known as Lemaître’s law, is also obtained as a special case of our formalism. We investigate the behavior of several artificially generated networks and the natural one of the retina concerning this universal, topological law.

Optimization-Based Pairwise Interaction Point Process (O-PIPP): A Precise and Universal Retinal Mosaic Modeling Approach

“…(4) They are widely used in retinal mosaic research, and their corresponding physical spatial meanings are easy to understand. 43 – 45 …”

Little information loss with red-green color deficient vision in natural environments

“…This approach requires only the spectral properties of the light reflected from each point in a sample of points from a scene, not the local or larger spatial features they may define, for example, texture, shape, location, and proximity to other spatial features, all of which entail assumptions about postreceptor processing in normal and color deficient vision. 45 Some of these issues have been addressed elsewhere, for example, in considering the organization of the cone mosaic, 46 , 47 , 48 the nature of postreceptor coding, 49 , 50 , 51 and how it might be modified in dichromacy. 52 …”