On the optical theory of underwater vision in humans

Summary, in English

Defocus changes the visual contrast sensitivity function, thereby creating a complex curve with local dips and peaks. Since underwater vision in humans is severely defocused, we used optical theory and the phenomenon of spurious resolution to predict how well humans can see in this environment. The values obtained correspond well with experimental measurements of underwater human acuity from earlier studies and even point to an opportunity for humans with exceptional contrast sensitivity to see better underwater than the children in those studies. The same theory could be useful when discussing the visual acuity of amphibious animals, as they may use pupil constriction as a means of improving underwater vision.

• Author: Anna Gislén; Lars Gislén
• Department/s: Functional zoology; Theoretical Particle Physics - Undergoing reorganization
• Publishing year: 2004
• Language: English
• Pages: 2061-2064
• Publication/Series: Journal of the Optical Society of America A
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 11
• Links: http://www.opticsinfobase.org/viewmedia.cfm?id=81550&seq=0; http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/JOSAA.21.002061
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Optical Society of America
• Topic: Evolutionary Biology
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1084-7529