Night vision / biology question

Imagine the scenario:

It's the middle of the night and because of:
(a) a bladder the size of a walnut or
(b) one too many Babycham the night before
... you have to visit the bathroom.

Past experience has taught you the value of retaining your night vision because waking the missus up through tripping over everything on the way back is detrimental to your health in more ways than one.

Leaving the bathroom light off is not an option, being detrimental to your health (when the missus finds out), the carpet, and your knees when the next day is spent scrubbing afore mentioned carpet.

So, how do you retain your night vision? I stumbled the other night upon an ingenious idea. At least I thought it was ingenious, but that was under the influence of afore mentioned Babycham so in hindsight it possibly wasn't.

Simply keep one eye closed. That way you retain night vision in one eye, colour vision in the other, and become some sort of hybrid all seeing superman.

Question time then - would that actually work or is the effect only that you think it works because you also think you're so damn clever for thinking it? I know about the rods & the cones and all that jazz from school, how the chemicals that work the rods get bleached out with bright light - but does that chemical bleaching get triggered within each individual eye or is it a global condition such that if one eye encounters bright light then the brain sends signals which screw up both eyes?

Of course, with one eye closed your depth perception is buggered up so you still may end up scrubbing the bathroom carpet the next day

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

So, how do you retain your night vision? I stumbled the other night upon an ingenious idea. At least I thought it was ingenious, but that was under the influence of afore mentioned Babycham so in hindsight it possibly wasn't.

Simply keep one eye closed. That way you retain night vision in one eye, colour vision in the other, and become some sort of hybrid all seeing superman.

The forces are taught this in basic training...

[Bibio]

keeping one eye shut only works if you keep the eye you primarily focus with open (learnt this a long time ago when i used to do archery)

or to get your eyes used to a dark surrounding quicker try 'rapid eye blinking'.

Good question

Photopigment bleaching/regeneration would be local to the eye in question, although there are other subtle neural changes that occur in the 'wiring' during adaptation apparently. Whether or not these subtle changes are consensual, I don't know. The pupil reflex of course is consensual, which of course suggests that the open eye must dominate that reflex, if the open eye is subjected to bright light.

What your visual cortex will make of all this, I am not sure as inputs get integrated from each eye related to the visual field there.

As I say to my students, do a search on www.pubmed.com and report back .

Edit, form what the others say above it obviously works, so that figures.

And here was me thinking I was so damn clever. It was also a compelling argument for the application of alcohol to further creative thought. Damn, it was fun while it lasted

Um, how do you know which eye is your preferred one? Didn't realise that you could be left or right eyed.

Originally Posted by Bibio

or to get your eyes used to a dark surrounding quicker try 'rapid eye blinking'.

How does that work?

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

And here was me thinking I was so damn clever. It was also a compelling argument for the application of alcohol to further creative thought. Damn, it was fun while it lasted

Um, how do you know which eye is your preferred one? Didn't realise that you could be left or right eyed.

Point at something, close one eye then other. See if where you are pointing changes.

[QUOTE=MiniMatt;2008288
Simply keep one eye closed. That way you retain night vision in one eye, colour vision in the other, and become some sort of hybrid all seeing superman.
[/QUOTE]

s'what I do - though I've got naff all depth perception anyways so it makes no difference to me.

Though last time I had too much babysham & did that - I kinda fell into the wrong bedroom. Vicky was not amused. So, there's that!

[Bibio]

get a piece of paper and place a small hole in the centre, hold out paper with both hands at full arms length and at head hight then look threw hole in paper on a fixed item (dot on wall or something). not moving hands, arms or head close one eye then open then close the other eye.

the eye you focus with will have the fixed item still in its view, the other will not let you see the fixed item.

[Mr Speirs]

How about a wee torch sat next to the side of the bed???

I find that when its pitch dark keeping my eyes closed helps me more.
When its dark and my eyes are open my brain makes me stumble round like an idiot but closing makes my room memory kick in and I start to moves much better and feel around less.