Jack the Ripper was a serial killer in London in the 1880s, and he has never been identified. At the time of his crimes, one suggestion was that the police should open up the victims’ eyelids and look at their retinas, in hopes that the last sight they saw would have been of the killer’s face, and would be retained on the retina. Why was this not an effective strategy for catching the killer?
A. Because the image on the retinas was upside down and the police had no way to invert it.
B. Because the image on the retina is very small and they had no way to magnify it.
C. Because of retinal disparity – the images in the two eyes were just enough different that they couldn’t be interpreted.
D. Because the image on the retina is projected light, and it would go away as soon as the victim’s eyes closed.
D. Because the image on the retina is projected light, and it would go away as soon as the victim’s eyes closed.
Students often do not fully understand phototransduction, and have the impression that an image would be retained on the retina. Answers A-C all play on that misconception. A discussion of a movie projector projecting an image on a wall, and that image going away as soon as the light is blocked, often helps to clarify this point.
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