Incremental and decremental L- and M-cone driven ERG responses: I. Square-wave pulse stimulation.

Abstract

Electroretinograms (ERGs) elicited by transient, square-wave L- and M-cone isolating stimuli were recorded from human trichromatic (n=19) and dichromatic (n=4) observers. The stimuli were generated on a 4 primary LED stimulator and were equated in terms of cone modulation (cone contrast = 0.11) and retinal illuminance (12,000 trolands). L- and M-cone isolated ERGs had waveforms similar to those observed for luminance responses. However, M-cone ERGs exhibited a phase reversal in their responses to onset and offset stimuli relative to the L-cone responses. This on-off response reversal was observed in trichromats but not dichromats. Simultaneous counter-phase and in-phase combinations of L- and M-cone isolating stimuli generated responses that reflected chromatic and luminance processing, respectively. We conclude that L- and M-cone specific ERGs provide a measure of how photoreceptors contribute to post-receptoral mechanisms.