Iconic Storage: The Role of Rods
Edward H. Adelson
Published in
Science, vol. 201, pp. 544-546 (1978).
The hypothesis that rods mediate iconic storage was tested by presenting letters of one color against a field of
another. The colors were chosen to be discriminable only by the cones, only by the rods, or both. Under dark
adaptation, the rods had little if any effect on partial-report advantage; however, they were important in
determining the phenomenal persistence of the stimulus. Under light adaptation, the rods played no apparent role in
either type of persistence.