Gaining the system: limits to compensating color deficiencies through post-receptoral gain changes.

Color percepts of anomalous trichromats are often more similar to normal trichromats than predicted from their receptor spectral sensitivities, suggesting that post-receptoral mechanisms can compensate for chromatic losses. The basis for these adjustments and the extent to which they could discount the deficiency are poorly understood. We modeled the patterns of compensation that might result from increasing the gains in post-receptoral neurons to offset their weakened inputs.

Fundamentally different representations of color and motion revealed by individual differences in perceptual scaling.

The coordinate frames for color and motion are often defined by three dimensions (e.g., responses from the three types of human cone photoreceptors for color and the three dimensions of space for motion).

Color perception and compensation in color deficiencies assessed with hue scaling.

Anomalous trichromats have three classes of cone receptors but with smaller separation in the spectral sensitivities of their longer-wave (L or M) cones compared to normal trichromats. As a result, the differences in the responses of the longer-wave cones are smaller, resulting in a weaker input to opponent mechanisms that compare the LvsM responses. Despite this, previous studies have found that their color percepts are more similar to normal trichromats than the smaller LvsM differences predict, suggesting that post-receptoral processes might amplify their responses to compensate for the weaker opponent inputs.

Individual differences and their implications for color perception.

Individual differences are a conspicuous feature of color vision and arise from many sources, in both the observer and the world. These differences have important practical implications for comparing and correcting perception and performance, and important theoretical implications for understanding the design principles underlying color coding. Color percepts within and between individuals often vary less than the variations in spectral sensitivity might predict.

Comparison of two methods of hue scaling.

Hue-scaling functions are designed to characterize color appearance by assessing the relative strength of the red versus green and blue versus yellow opponent sensations comprising different hues. However, these judgments can be non-intuitive and may pose difficulties for measurement and analysis. We explored an alternative scaling method based on positioning a dial to represent the relative similarity or distance of each hue from the labeled positions for the opponent categories.

Variations in normal color vision. VII. Relationships between color naming and hue scaling.

A longstanding and unresolved question is how observers construct a discrete set of color categories to partition and label the continuous variations in light spectra, and how these categories might reflect the neural representation of color. We explored the properties of color naming and its relationship to color appearance by analyzing individual differences in color-naming and hue-scaling patterns, using factor analysis of individual differences to identify separate and shared processes underlying hue naming (labeling) and hue scaling (color appearance). Observers labeled the hues of 36 stimuli spanning different angles in cone-opponent space, using a set of eight terms corresponding to primary (red, green, blue, yellow) or binary (orange, purple, blue-green, yellow-green) hues.

Variations in normal color vision. VI. Factors underlying individual differences in hue scaling and their implications for models of color appearance.

Observers with normal color vision vary widely in their judgments of color appearance, such as the specific spectral stimuli they perceive as pure or unique hues. We examined the basis of these individual differences by using factor analysis to examine the variations in hue-scaling functions from both new and previously published data. Observers reported the perceived proportion of red, green, blue or yellow in chromatic stimuli sampling angles at fixed intervals within the LM and S cone-opponent plane.