title: Separable red-green and luminance detectors for small flashes.
abstract: Detection contours were measured in L and M cone contrast coordinates for foveal flashes of 200 msec duration and 2.3, 5, 10 and 15 min arc diameter on a bright yellow field. The test flash consisted of simultaneous incremental and decremental red and green lights in various amplitude ratios. At all sizes, the most sensitive detection mechanism was not a luminance mechanism, but rather a red-green mechanism that responds to the linear difference of equally weighted L and M cone contrasts, and signals red or green sensations at the detection threshold. Both temporal and spatial integration were greater for red-green detection than luminance detection. A coincident, subthreshold, yellow flash (a luminance pedestal) did not affect the threshold of the red-green mechanism. Such a pedestal is a sum of equal L and M cone contrast--it represents a vector parallel to the red-green detection contour and thus is expected not to stimulate directly the red-green mechanism. When suprathreshold, the coincident pedestal facilitated chromatic detection by approximately 2x at all tested sizes; intense pedestals did not mask chromatic detection. This insensitivity to intense luminance pedestals further indicates that the red-green mechanism has fixed spectral tuning with balanced opponent L and M contrast inputs. This view of fixed spectral weights contrasts with the "variable tuning hypothesis", which postulates that the weights change with spatial-temporal variations in the test stimulus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chaparro
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Stromeyer
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Kronauer
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Eskew
mesh_terms: D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D005584:Fovea Centralis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D017949:Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D013053:Spectrophotometry