2. The Human Eye and Vision Optics of the eye (lenses, focusing, etc.) Physiology of the eye (detection of light)

3. Structure of the Eye Diagram from National Eye Institute Website

4. Human Eye Retina - extension of the brain Some amount of “pre-processing” of information occurs locally before traveling up the optic nerve Blind spot - Where the optic nerve leaves the eyeball

5. Human Eye - Vision Receptors “Rods” - more sensitive to low light levels; fewer in vicinity of fovea. “Cones” - bunched together at fovea; color sensitive; used for sharp images

6. Human Eye - Simple Model

7. What type of image is formed? Real, inverted and demagnified. Inverted ??? The brain takes care of interpreting the information received at the retina. It “compensates” for the contradictory sensory information (e.g. inversion).

8. Human Eye - Cornea Most refraction occurs at the cornea (n cornea = 1.376) Index of refraction change is greatest at that interface.

9. Human Eye - Goggles Question: Why is it that you can see better underwater when wearing goggles? Answer: Without goggles, there is very little refractive index change between the water and your cornea. You effectively become very far-sighted.

10. Human Eye - Crystalline Lens Crystalline lens fine tunes the focus (we call this “accomodation”) Cornea-to-retina distance is fixed What change is needed in the lens to allow focusing of an object as it moves closer? The lens must take on a shorter focal length (i.e. become more converging)

11. “Eye Optics of Marine Mammals” 1. What first led Heather Zorn to think about marine mammal eyes? 2. What is the major difference between the conditions under which our eyes (or those of a fish) operate, and those of marine mammals? 3. When you open your eyes under water without using goggles, do you become near-sighted or far-sighted? Why is there a change at all? 4. How might the cornea play a role in marine mammal vision? The pupil? The crystalline lens? Which is most important?

12. Human Eye - Abnormalities Myopia - Near-sightedness Hyperopia - Far-sightedness Presbyopia - Age-related decrease in accomodation ability In all cases, the lens cannot compensate for all object distances.

13. “Normal” Eye Retina ("screen") Object at “infinity”

14. Myopia: Near-sightedness Retina("screen") Diverging lens

15. Correcting Myopia How to determine your prescription If you are near-sighted: 1. Find your “far-point” distance 2. Convert this to meters 3. Take the inverse of this number 4. The result is your prescription, if you put a “-” in front.

16. Correcting Myopia Another possibility for correcting myopia? Radial keratotomy (RK) Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) LASIK (Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis)

17. Hyperopia: Far-sightedness Retina ("screen") Near point Normal “near point” is 25cm (10")

18. Hyperopia: Far-sightedness Near point Object gives “fuzzy” image because it is too close.Retina ("screen") New image is at the near point

19. Correcting Hyperopia Are there surgical options for correcting hyperopia? Yes, LASIK can help out here as well.

20. Presbyopia Age-related lack of ability to focus on nearby objects Crystalline lens becomes less flexible Not surgically correctable by changing the cornea. Why?

21. Astigmatism Cornea is not “spherical” Vertical and horizontal objects focus at different distances from the cornea.