title: Systematic measurement of human neonatal color vision.
abstract: We used a new time-efficient method to evaluate chromatic-achromatic discrimination in newborn (n = 36) and 1-month-old (n = 34) human infants. Results showed that 74% of newborns discriminated a 10.5 x 17.5 deg broadband red patch from all relative luminances of an achromatic background, but only 14% of newborns did so with a blue, 36% with a green, and 25% with a yellow patch. Most infants who "failed" did so at relative luminances very close to the respective photopic luminance match. At 1 month, performance improved somewhat although infants still show clear evidence of discriminating only the red patch. These results, the first to be obtained from individual newborns with a method incorporating a systematic variation of luminance, imply that early color vision is very limited. Possible photoreceptoral and neural bases for these immaturities are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's, Canada.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Courage
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mercer
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003119:Color Perception Tests / Q000379:methods; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D013053:Spectrophotometry