A mechanism of light adaptation.

In the isolated retina of the bullfrog (Rana catesbiana) illumination of one part of a ganglion cell's receptive field increased the light threshold (for response by that cell) not only in the illuminated part but also in the unilluminated parts of the field. Scattered light is insufficient to account for the effect. Apparently it depends on changes in the efficiency of excitation transmission along the neural pathways from photoreceptors to ganglion cell.