Biomaterial Database

Visual capacities of the owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatus): temporal contrast sensitivity. 1979

G H Jacobs, and R B Tootell, and B Blakeslee

Aotus monkeys were tested in a forced-choice discrimination task to determine their ability to discriminate sinusoidally flickering lights varying in temporal frequency and luminance contrast. Under conditions of moderate light adaptation this primate is maximally sensitive to lights flickering at 10 Hz while the highest frequency they can discriminate is about 42 Hz. At very low light levels (10(-5) ft L) maximum sensitivity is for 2.2--5 Hz flicker. The highest flicker rate that could be discriminated under these conditons was about 29 Hz. In comparison to humans tested in the same situation. Aotus monkeys show relatively lower sensitivity to temporal flicker under conditions of light adaptation but relatively higher sensitivity at very low light levels.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000221	Adaptation, Ocular	The adjustment of the eye to variations in the intensity of light. Light adaptation is the adjustment of the eye when the light threshold is increased; DARK ADAPTATION when the light is greatly reduced. (From Cline et al., Dictionary of Visual Science, 4th ed)	Light Adaptation,Adaptation, Light,Adaptations, Light,Adaptations, Ocular,Light Adaptations,Ocular Adaptation,Ocular Adaptations
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D000882	Haplorhini	A suborder of PRIMATES consisting of six families: CEBIDAE (some New World monkeys), ATELIDAE (some New World monkeys), CERCOPITHECIDAE (Old World monkeys), HYLOBATIDAE (gibbons and siamangs), CALLITRICHINAE (marmosets and tamarins), and HOMINIDAE (humans and great apes).	Anthropoidea,Monkeys,Anthropoids,Monkey
D001029	Aotus trivirgatus	A species in the family AOTIDAE, inhabiting the forested regions of Central and South America (from Panama to the Amazon). Vocalizations occur primarily at night when they are active, thus they are also known as Northern night monkeys.	Humboldt's Night Monkey,Monkey, Northern Night,Night Monkey, Northern,Humboldt Night Monkey,Humboldts Night Monkey,Monkey, Humboldt's Night,Night Monkey, Humboldt's,Northern Night Monkey,Northern Night Monkeys
D013045	Species Specificity	The restriction of a characteristic behavior, anatomical structure or physical system, such as immune response; metabolic response, or gene or gene variant to the members of one species. It refers to that property which differentiates one species from another but it is also used for phylogenetic levels higher or lower than the species.	Species Specificities,Specificities, Species,Specificity, Species
D014785	Vision, Ocular	The process in which light signals are transformed by the PHOTORECEPTOR CELLS into electrical signals which can then be transmitted to the brain.	Vision,Light Signal Transduction, Visual,Ocular Vision,Visual Light Signal Transduction,Visual Phototransduction,Visual Transduction,Phototransduction, Visual,Transduction, Visual
D014787	Vision Tests	A series of tests used to assess various functions of the eyes.	Test, Vision,Tests, Vision,Vision Test
D014796	Visual Perception	The selecting and organizing of visual stimuli based on the individual's past experience.	Visual Processing,Perception, Visual,Processing, Visual