09 SciBio

GEP 1
Topic 8 Lesson 1: EYE
 Accomodation-Distant Object

• Parallel light rays coming from a distant

object are refracted as they enter the cornea.
• Light rays pass through the pupil and are
refracted further by the lens which does the
fine focusing.
• Ciliary muscles relax, suspensory ligaments
are pulled taut, pulling on edge of lens.
• The elastic lens becomes thinner, less convex
and image is focused on retina.
 Accomodation-Nearby Object

• If the eye focuses onto a near object, the

ciliary muscles will contract.
• This will cause the suspensory ligaments to
slacken releasing their pull on the elastic lens.
• The elastic lens becomes thicker and more
convex.
• Diverging rays from the near object will be
refracted by the cornea and then be brought
Additional Questions
• What is meant by the term pupil
reflex?
• Pupil reflex is a cranial reflex
• Involuntary action where the pupil
constricts in response to a stimulus of
increased light intensity
 Pupil Reflex action
Cranial Reflex

• Receptor : retina

• Sensory neurons: optic nerve --> brain

• Control centre: brain

• Effector neurons: brain -->optic nerve

• Effector: Iris Muscles

 Pupil Reflex
• The size of the pupil is controlled by 2 sets of
involuntary muscles in the iris – the circular
& radial muscles
 Pupil Reflex- Bright
Light
• Sudden bright light will be detected by the
photoreceptors of the eye.

• Electrical signals/Nervous impulses will be

sent via the sensory neurones in the optic
nerve to the brain.

• Nervous Impulses will then be sent to the

motor neurones to the iris muscles.

• This causes the circular muscles of the iris to

contract, and the radial muscles to relax.

• This causes the pupil to constrict and reduce

the amount of light entering the eye.
 Question 1a
i) by means of the letter X, the region when
stimulated by light, results in no nerve impulses
being transmitted by L;
X= Blind Spot
ii) by means of the letter Y, the region of clearest
vision.
Y= yellow spot/fovea centralis [1]
 Question 1
• b) What is the function of structure A?
• allow light to enter [1] (reject “control amount of
light to enter”)
c) Explain the statement “Structure B has a
protective function”.
decrease in pupil size [1]; to prevent retina
damage due to strong light intensity [1] or radial
muscles relax, circular muscles contract, pupil
constricts/becomes smaller [1]
 Question 1d
•  ii) Describe how the appearance of the lens in
(di) is brought about.

• ciliary muscles contract [1]; suspensory ligaments

slacken [1]; lens become thicker and more
convex.

•
 Question 2a

Maximum curvature

Increase

in curvature

Minimum curvature

0 2 4 6 8

Time (seconds)
 Question 2a

Maximum curvature

Increase

in curvature

Minimum curvature

0 2 4 6 8

Time (seconds)
 Question 2b
Describe the changes that take place inside the
student’s eye at time 6s.

Impulses are sent to the ciliary muscle which

contracts, causing the suspensory ligaments to
slacken; This releases the pull on the elastic lens
and causes it to become thicker and more
convex; The diverging rays from a near object is
focused clearly onto the retina;
Maximum curvature

Increase

in curvature

Minimum curvature
0 2 4 6 8

Time (seconds)
 (i) respond to bright light, Question 3a
(ii) is affected if a person is colour-blind, and
(iii) changes shape to focus on near and distant
objects
The following explanation is not necessary for
answering this question. It is written to help you
understand.
Iris responds to bright light. Pupil will constrict, This is
(iii) lens/ cornea,
caused by the contraction of the
conjunctiva circular muscles and
relaxation of the radial muscles in the iris.
(ii) retina/ fovea

(i) iris
The cone cells (one of the photoreceptors on the
retina) is for colour vision.
Fig. 3.1 These cone cells are
mainly distributed in the fovea.
The lens changes its convexity and thickness when
focusing on distant and near objects.
 Question 3b
(b) Explain the similarities between a pupil reflex action
and a knee jerk reaction. [4]

• Both reflexes are involuntary because they do not involve

conscious decision by the brain; (the reflex centre for the
pupil reflex is the optic centre in the brain, and the spinal
reflex is the spinal cord.)

• Both reflexes are initiated by sensory receptors /organs:

(pupil reflex is the retina; spinal reflex is the stretch
receptor at the upper thigh.)

• Both reflexes are fast acting/immediate as the distance

traveled by the impulses from the sensory organ to the
reflex centre and back to the effector is short;

• Both reflexes are innate, no prior experience is needed to

shape the response; and The response for both reflexes
is always the same as it involves the same reflex arc and
 Next GEP Lesson…
• Nervous System and Hormones
(online)

• Respiration will be the next topic for

GEP in class.
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