Oxyopia Abstract

April 3, 2008
Thursday, 4:00 PM
100 Minor Hall

Gerald Jacobs, PhD
Research Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara
Host: TBA

  Russell De Valois Memorial Lecture [info]

Title

Unraveling Mammalian Color Vision

Abstract

“…are you quite certain that the several colors appear to a dog or to any animal whatever as they appear to you?”
                                                                      Plato’s Theaetetus  (369-367 BCE)

The suspicion that other species do not necessarily share the color worlds of humans has a long history and there is direct experimental evidence on the topic that is now more than a century old. Over the intervening years since, an immense body of literature has been accumulated that details the nature of these species differences and that seeks to understand how they have arisen. Among recent advances, investigations conducted on a diverse collection of mammals, particularly those drawn from among the primate family, have proven valuable in revealing early-stage mechanisms in the visual system, and they have been crucial for understanding the relationships between opsin genes, cone photopigments, and color vision. What have emerged are deep insights into the evolution of color vision and these in turn have served to re-awaken interest in developing an ecology of color vision.  

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