Dark-adapted rods in the area surrounding a luminance-modulated field
can suppress flicker detection. However, the characteristics of the
interaction between rods and each of the cone types are unclear. To
address this issue, the effect that dark-adapted rods have on specific
classes of receptoral and postreceptoral signals was determined by
measuring the critical fusion frequencies (CFF) for receptoral L-, M-, and
S-cone and postreceptoral luminance ([L+M+S] and
[L+M+S+Rod]) and chromatic ([L/(L+M)]) signals in
the presence of different levels of surrounding rod activity. Stimuli were
generated with a two-channel photostimulator that has four primaries for a
central field and four primaries for the surround, allowing independent
control of rod and cone excitation. Measurements were made either with
adaptation to the stimulus field after dark adaptation or during a brief
period following light adaptation. The results show that dark-adapted rods
maximally suppressed the CFF by ∼6 Hz for L-cone, M-cone, and
luminance modulation. Dark-adapted rods, however, did not significantly
alter the S-cone CFF. The [L/(L+M)] postreceptoral CFF was
slightly suppressed at higher surround illuminances, that is, higher than
surround luminances resulting in suppression for L-cone, M-cone, or
luminance modulation. We conclude that rod-cone interactions in flicker
detection occurred strongly in the magnocellular pathway.