日 時 | 2014年12月10日(水) 16:00 より 17:00 まで |
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講演者 | Dr. Donggen Luo |
講演者所属 | McGovern Institute for Brain Research Center for Quantitative Biology College of Life Sciences, Peking University |
お問い合わせ先 | 視覚情報処理研究部門、吉村由美子 yumikoy@nips.ac.jp |
要旨 |
北京大学のDonggen Luo博士にセミナーをお願いしました。多数のご参集をお待ちしています。 Our eyes are extremely sensitive to light. Absorption of only 5-7 photons can trigger light perception in our brain. Indeed, rod photoreceptors, the dim-light sensors in our eyes, have the ability to detect single-photon absorption. In another word, the photoactivation of single visual-pigment molecule (light-sensing molecules in photoreceptors) produces an electrical signal large enough to report to the brain. However, rods also have noise. About once per minute, a rod produces a false signal, equivalent to the absorption of a photon, owing to the spontaneous (thermal) activation of a rod-pigment molecule (rhodopsin). This thermal noise limits our absolute visual threshold by acting as “dark light”. |