title: Does chromatic sensitivity develop more slowly than luminance sensitivity?
abstract: Chromatic sensitivity is very low in humans during the first few months of life. We examined whether low chromatic sensitivity reflects a deficiency among chromatic mechanisms or whether it is simply a manifestation of poor visual sensitivity in general. The sweep VEP was used to measure contrast sensitivity to gratings varying in the mixture of red and green components. For infants from 2 to 8 weeks of age, sensitivity to all mixtures was lower than color-normal adults' sensitivity, but infant and adult ratios of luminance/chromatic sensitivity were similar. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that infants have functional MWS and LWS cones and the requisite post-receptor chromatic mechanisms to compare their signals.
authors.affiliation: School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Banks
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Norcia
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003117:Color Vision Defects / Q000503:physiopathology; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008027:Light; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D013053:Spectrophotometry