Abstract
Excision of the lateral eye of Limulus is believed to compromise it by greatly reducing its sensitivity to light stimuli. This belief derives from an experiment in which excised eyes were studied in the daytime and intact eyes were studied at night. But since a circadian elevation of nighttime sensitivity occurs in this eye, the belief is based on a confounded experiment in which like was not compared with like. In the present paper, like is compared with like; light sensitivity is assessed by comparing the intensity-response curves of receptor potentials that were recorded intracellularly from excised and from intact eyes. These data clearly indicate that the excised eye is not less sensitive than the intact eye. They further indicate that this situation exists for periods of time that exceed 5 h after excision, which means that this preparation provides ample time to replicate behaviorally interesting experiments while recording from a single neuron.
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Wasserman, G.S. Visual cells in excised Limulus eyes: 2. Excision does not reduce sensitivity to light. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 30, 120–122 (1992). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330414
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330414