Peripheral shadows or flashes of light can be a sign that the retina is peeling away from the layer below. Why is detachment of the retina a medical emergency?

Question

A.  It contains the photoreceptor cells that respond to light.
B.  It is crucial for focusing the image.
C.  It secretes tears that bathe and protect the eyeball.
D.  It is a sphincter muscle that controls light transmission.

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?

Gather Content
What do you already know about the retina? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?

Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

A.  It contains the photoreceptor cells that respond to light.


Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        · What is the effect of a detached retina?
What type of thinking is required?
            o This is an analyze question because you have to break down the role of the retina into its functions in terms of detecting and focusing an image for vision.

Gather Content
What do you already know about the retina? What other information is related to the question?
        · You already know that the retina is located on the back of the eye

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        · The statement that the retina secretes tears is incorrect as this is done by tear glands outside of the eyeball. The sphincter muscle that controls light transmission is the pupillary constrictor muscle that opens and closes the iris, not the retina. Although light is focused upon the back of the retina in the fovea, what does the focusing is the lens. The retina does have photoreceptor cells that respond to light, so if the retina was detached, the photoreceptor cells would be pulled away from the back of the eye that provides them with access to blood vessels that supply oxygen and nourishment. Without that connection, the photoreceptors would die, resulting in blindness.

Reflect on Process
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        o Answering this question correctly depended not only on distinguishing between answers that described different parts of the eye and choosing the one that was appropriate for describing the retina. If you selected a wrong answer, which one? Since the retina is where the light is focused on the back of the eye, did you think that it is crucial for focusing an image? It is crucial for detecting the image, but the light is focused by the lens before it reaches the retina.