Enhancement of flicker by lateral inhibition

Abstract

Sinusoidal modulation of illumination on the compound eye of the horseshoe crab, Limulus, produces a corresponding variation in the rate of discharge of optic nerve impulses. Increasing the area of illumination decreases the variation at low frequencies of modulation, but unexpectedly enhances-or "amplifies"-the variation at the intermediate frequencies to which the eye is most sensitive. Both effects must result from inhibition since it is the only significant lateral influence in this eye.