ANIMAL

PHYSIOLOGY
LABORATORY ACTIVITY V
RAZEL JOY L. DE JESUS 3-BSBIO-A

Exercise 1:

Afterimages

1. Draw the shape of the first letter of your name on a small
piece of white paper, and make the letter to be bold by
darkening it by using a black colored pen
2. Observe the image and fix your vision in the middle of the
letter for 1-2 minutes.
3. Take note that while you are staring at the middle of the
letter, you may blink, however you are not able to blink
repetitively
4. After staring, immediately look at a dim surface, such as
that of the ceiling or the wall.

What can you see? Explain how afterimages work

I can see the afterimage of the letter R while looking at the
ceiling.
Afterimages are visual illusions in which retinal impressions
persist after the removal of a stimulus that is believed to be
caused by the continued activation of the visual system. An
afterimage may be positive or negative; this corresponds
with the color and brightness of the image.
Negative afterimages work by the photoreceptors,
photosensitive cells that respond to light by generating a
signal that is sent to your brain, these are known as rods and
cones, adapt to overstimulation and lose sensitivity, with the
aid of cortical contribution as well. Normally in my situation,
while staring at the image (over stimulated), it will be
moved to a fresh area of the retina with microsaccades.
However, in my case, because of the extreme steadiness
maintained by my eyes, these small movements are not
enough to keep the image constantly moving to fresh parts
of the retina. The photoreceptors that are used in the
mechanism, will be constantly exposed to the same stimulus,
and they supply of photopigment will eventually be
exhausted, resulting in a decrease in signal to the brain.
Complementary afterimages are explained by the opponent-
process theory, developed by Elwald Hering (1920-1964). it
states that the cone photoreceptors are linked together to
form three opposing color pairs: blue/yellow, red/green,
and black/white.

Exercise 2

Blind spot

1. On the same piece of paper, just below the letter that you
drew, draw a positive and negative sign, 1 inch between
them.
2. Cover your right eye with your hand and stare at the
positive sign on the piece of paper
3. While staring, slowly move your head closer to the sign
that you are staring.

What did you observe while leaning closer to the image?
Explain how a blind spot works?

While leaning closer to the positive sign with my right eye,
while my left eye is covered, the blurriness of the negative
sign increased. Thus, when I have fully leaned forward to the
positive sign, my right eye only focused on the positive sign.
The natural blind spot, scotoma, is due to lack of receptors,
the same mentioned rods or cones, where the optic nerve
and blood vessels leave the eye.
By the act of covering one eye, your field of vision will be
reduced. You will also lose stereopsis (3D vision or depth
perception)
The figure below shows the 3D vision.

Image source from bundlemedia.com

Exercise 3

Spinning Momentum

1. Pick a partner to perform this exercise with,
2. After picking a partner, stand on an elevated surface, and
spin your partner clockwise 8 times, by maneuvering her
dominant hand clockwise.
3. After the 8th time, spin your partner counterclockwise for
3-4 times. Observe results. Explain the outcome.

The subject seemed to be calm even after the 8 clockwise
spins, by the 4 counterclockwise spins.
However, I believe that this is not true or that there must be
a missing 'element'. The dizziness that the subject was
feeling is due to a change in the orientation of small hairs
inside your ear and the fluid around them. The hairs are
moved by a viscous fluid inside the semi-circular canals of
the vestibular apparatus, the loss of inertia of the fluid in the
canals causes them to stand back up.
Dizziness is the mental and visual perception that you are
still spinning, because the hairs haven't moved back to their
original position. Basically, if you're spinning at a direction
rapidly, and immediately try to reorient your body too
quickly in an opposite direction, it may intensify the
dizziness, and then cause you to orient in the opposite
direction.