Abstract

The chromatic discrimination capabilities of 3- and 7-week-old infants were tested using 8°, 417-, 448-, 486-, 540-, and 645-nm test fields embedded in a 547-nm surround and 486-nm test fields in a broadband red surround. In corroboration of earlier studies, few 3-week-old infants demonstrated chromatic discriminations, although their performance was somewhat better when one of the lights was long wavelength. Most 7-week-old infants could make chromatic discriminations, but they still demonstrated performance minima. The radiances of the test lights at the infants’ performance minima were used to generate a spectral luminous efficiency curve. This curve agreed with both the adult heterochromatic brightness matches measured at 30° of visual eccentricity in situ and the standard adult scotopic sensitivity curve V(λ) over the short- and mid-wavelength range but deviated from both adult curves for the 645-nm test stimulus on a 547-nm surround. The results suggest that rod-initiated signals play a major role in infants’ visual performance under the conditions tested.

© 1988 Optical Society of America

Motion nulls for white versus isochromatic gratings in infants and adults

Davida Y. Teller and Delwin T. Lindsey
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 6(12) 1945-1954 (1989)

Saturation of rod-initiated signals in 2-month-old human infants

Angela M. Brown
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5(12) 2145-2158 (1988)

Optical and photoreceptor immaturities limit the spatial and chromatic vision of human neonates

Martin S. Banks and Patrick J. Bennett
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 5(12) 2059-2079 (1988)

Spectral sensitivity and wavelength discrimination of the human peripheral visual field

J. A. van Esch, E. E. Koldenhof, A. J. van Doorn, and J. J. Koenderink
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 1(5) 443-450 (1984)

Longitudinal chromatic aberration of the human infant eye

Jingyun Wang, T. Rowan Candy, Danielle F. W. Teel, and Robert J. Jacobs
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 25(9) 2263-2270 (2008)