The directional sensitivity of retinal rods.

Rod field sensitivity, 10-S(r) (i.e. the reciprocal of the radiance of a background required for 10-fold elevation of rod threshold) was measured for monochromatic backgrounds traversing the pupil at various points (r) on three subjects. The wave-length dependency of the directional sensitivities of the three foveal cone mechanisms of the principal subject have been reported previously (Alpern & Kitahara, 1983). Rods, as cones, are less sensitive to obliquely incident, than to normally incident backgrounds. At the pupil margin (4 mm) the effect is between 0.368 and 0.976 log10 units smaller for rods. After correction for losses by corneal reflexion and by absorption in the lens, S(r) for rods is reasonably described by the parabolic equation used by Stiles (1937) to quantify the directional sensitivity of cones. The small effect for rods precludes a description as consistently precise as this equation provides for cones. The steepness of the parabolic curve best fitting the directional sensitivity data of the rods of the principal subject was independent of background wave number. For a second subject, whose rods are supposed to be smaller, it was directly proportional to the square of that wave number. The latter is the expectation if the directional sensitivity of this subject's rods were determined by principles outlined in the diffraction theory of Simon (1970).