Spectral sensitivity Spectral sensitivity Spectral sensitivity is the relative efficiency of detection, of light or other signal, as a function of the frequency or wavelength of the signal. In visual neuroscience, spectral sensitivity is used to describe the different characteristics of the photopigments in the rod cells and cone cells in the retina of the eye. It is known that the rod cells are more suited to scotopic vision and cone cells to photopic vision, and that they differ in their sensitivity to different wavelengths of light. It has been established that the maximum spectral sensitivity of the human eye under daylight
Macula of retina distinguish different colors. There is only one type of rod, but the rods are more sensitive than the cones, so in dim light they are the dominant photoreceeptors active, and without information provided by the separate spectral sensitivity of the cones it is impossible to discriminate colors. In the fovea "centralis", cones predominate, and are present at high density. The macula is thus responsible for the central, high-resolution, color vision that is possible in good light; and this kind of vision is impaired if the macula is damaged, for example in macular degeneration. The clinical macula is seen when viewed