PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - James J. Foster
AU  - Shelby E. Temple
AU  - Martin J. How
AU  - Ilse M. Daly
AU  - Camilla R. Sharkey
AU  - David Wilby
AU  - Nicholas W. Roberts
TI  - Polarization Vision—Overcoming Challenges of Working with a Property of Light We Barely See
AID  - 10.1101/207217
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 207217
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/10/24/207217.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/10/24/207217.full
AB  - In recent years, the study of polarization vision in animals has seen numerous breakthroughs, not just in terms of what is known about the function of this sensory ability, but also in the experimental methods by which polarization can be controlled, presented and measured. Once thought to be limited to only a few animal species, polarization sensitivity is now known to be widespread across many taxonomic groups, and advances in experimental techniques are, in part, responsible for these discoveries. Nevertheless, its study remains challenging, perhaps because of our own poor sensitivity to the polarization of light, but equally as a result of the slow spread of new practices and methodological innovations within the field. In this review, we introduce the most important steps in designing and calibrating polarized stimuli, within the broader context of areas of current research and the applications of new techniques to key questions. Our aim is to provide a constructive guide to help researchers, particularly those with no background in the physics of polarization, to design robust experiments that are free from confounding factors.