photoreception

[foh-toh-ri-sep-shuhn]

noun

1. the physiological perception of light.

Other Word Forms

• photoreceptive adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of photoreception¹

First recorded in 1905–10; photo- + reception

Example Sentences

“There’s a growing understanding that the ability to see without eyes or eye-like structures, called extraocular photoreception, is more widespread than we thought,” says Julia Sigwart, an evolutionary biologist at Queen’s University Belfast, UK, and a study co-author.

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Vision is an advanced form of photoreception — that is, light sensing.

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Vision is an advanced form of photoreception – that is, light sensing.

Read more on Scientific American

Finally, an unexpected recent finding in research led by Solomon Snyder and Dan Berkowitz, also at Johns Hopkins University, found that blood vessels in mice contain melanopsin, the opsin used in retinal nonvisual photoreception.

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Rhodopsin, a marker for photoreception, was found at only 3 per cent of the level of normal retinal cells, suggesting that it may be necessary for scientists to reprogramme the cells.

Read more on Forbes