What Is Visual Sensitivity?
The degree of responsiveness of the retina and subsequent visual pathways to light or variations in light. High sensitivity means the system can detect very faint or subtle stimuli.
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High vs. Low
At night (scotopic conditions), rod photoreceptors provide extremely high visual sensitivity (detecting minimal light) but poor resolution. In daylight, cones provide lower light sensitivity but high resolution.
Clinical Measure
In perimetry, retinal sensitivity is measured in decibels ($dB$): a higher $dB$ value indicates higher sensitivity (able to detect dimmer light).
Disease Impact
Sensitivity is dramatically reduced (threshold increases) in retinal diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and advanced glaucoma.
What is 'contrast sensitivity'?
A separate measure of the system's ability to detect subtle differences in luminance (contrast) between an object and its background, regardless of its brightness.
Does the pupil affect sensitivity?
Yes. A dilated pupil allows more light to reach the retina, artificially increasing the overall sensitivity to the visual scene.
Is high sensitivity always good?
No. An abnormally high, hyper-responsive sensitivity can lead to issues like photophobia (light sensitivity).