We know a good deal about the operation of the retina when either rod or cone photoreceptors provide the dominant input (i.e., under very dim or very bright conditions). However, we know much less about how the retina operates when rods and cones are coactive (i.e., under intermediate lighting conditions, such as dusk). Such mesopic conditions span 20-30% of the light levels over which vision operates and encompass many situations in which vision is essential (e.g., driving at night). These lighting conditions are challenging because rod and cone signals differ substantially: Rod responses are nearing saturation, while cone responses are weak and noisy. A rich history of perceptual studies guides our investigation of how the retina operates under mesopic conditions and in doing so provides a powerful opportunity to link general issues about parallel processing in neural circuits with computation and perception. We review some of the successes and challenges in understanding the retinal basis of perceptual rod-cone interactions.

中文翻译：

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视杆细胞和视锥细胞信号的并行处理：视网膜功能和人类感知。

当杆状或锥状光感受器提供主要输入时（即在非常暗或非常亮的条件下），我们对视网膜的运作有很多了解。然而，我们对视杆细胞和视锥细胞相互作用时（即在中等照明条件下，例如黄昏）视网膜如何运作知之甚少。这种中间视觉条件涵盖了视觉运作的光照水平的 20-30%，并涵盖了许多视觉至关重要的情况（例如，夜间驾驶）。这些照明条件具有挑战性，因为视杆细胞和视锥细胞信号差异很大：视杆细胞响应接近饱和，而视锥细胞响应微弱且有噪声。丰富的感知研究历史指导我们研究视网膜在中间视觉条件下如何运作，并在此过程中提供了一个强有力的机会，将神经回路中并行处理的一般问题与计算和感知联系起来。我们回顾了理解视杆细胞与视锥细胞相互作用的视网膜基础方面的一些成功和挑战。