Luminance-dependent long-term chromatic adaptation

Color Compensatory Mechanism of Chromatic Adaptation at the Cortical Level

Reportedly, some chromatic adaptations have extremely short temporal properties, while others have rather long ones. We aimed to dynamically measure the transition of a neutral point as an aftereffect during chromatic adaptation to understand the temporal characteristics of chromatic adaptation. The peripheral retina was exposed to a yellow light to progress color adaptation, while the transition of a neutral point was measured at the fovea. In Experiment 1, the aftereffect had initially progressed but subsequently recovered despite ongoing chromatic adaptation and regardless of the retinal exposure size, suggesting that the adaptation mechanism at the cortical level continues to readjust the color appearance based on daylight conditions. Experiment 2 was similar to Experiment 1, except that it included participants of varying ages. Older eyes behaved in a homologous manner with younger eyes in Experiment 2, albeit quantitative differences. Regardless of age, similar recalibration of neutral points shifted by color adaptation suggests the color compensation function in older eyes may not change due to long-term chromatic adaptation by optical yellowing. In conclusion, the chromatic adaptation mechanism at the cortical level readjusts color perception, even in younger eyes, according to the daylight neutral point. This daylight information may be stored in the neural mechanism of color vision.

Contrast-dependent red-green balance shifts depend on S-cone activity

Previous research from our lab has established that red-green-balanced yellow targets become greenish-brown as surround luminance increases, while red-green-balanced brown targets become reddish-yellow as surround luminance decreases. To help assess the generality and underlying processes of this contrast-dependent red-green hue shift, we investigated red-green hue shifts for target stimuli that appeared achromatic or blue as well as yellow/brown. Results confirmed that the red-green hue shift was largest for yellow/brown targets and was progressively reduced for achromatic and blue targets as target excitation of S cones increased. The magnitude of the hue shift could be predicted by the S/(L+M) excitation of the target when bright white surrounds are used. The hue shift also requires that the target and surround are presented to the same eye, consistent with processing in monocular pathways. Increased S-cone excitation by the surround was associated with red-green hue shifts for all targets equally. Thus, S-cone signals from bright white surrounds might play a role in the contrast-dependent red-green hue shift, but the source of the variation of the magnitude of the hue shift with variations in target S-cone excitation when presented on those surrounds is unknown.

Contrast-dependent red-green hue shift

On bright surrounds, red-green-balanced yellow targets become greenish brown with decreased target luminance, and red-green-balanced brown targets become reddish yellow with increased target luminance. These effects imply luminance- and/or contrast-dependent weighting of M- and L-cone signals in post-receptoral pathways. We show psychophysically that luminance contrast between the surround and the target is the primary determinant of the magnitude of red-green hue shift, requiring surround luminance at least twice the target luminance and increasing with further increases of surround/target contrast. There is a much smaller effect of absolute stimulus luminance, with dimmer stimuli showing slightly larger hue shifts. To evaluate a possible retinal origin of the changes in cone-signal weightings underlying the hue shift, we recorded spike responses from both ON- and OFF-center midget ganglion cells in peripheral primate retina. We found no evidence that the relative strength of L- and M-cone post-receptoral responses changed systematically with change of surround irradiance. Nor was there any systematic difference between ON- and OFF-subtypes. This suggests that the change in cone signal weighting occurs later in the visual system.

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. The boundaries defining different terms varied mostly independently, reflecting the influence of at least seven to eight factors. This finding is inconsistent with conventional color-opponent models in which all colors derive from the relative responses of underlying red-green and blue-yellow dimensions. Instead, color categories may reflect qualitatively distinct attributes that are free to vary with the specific spectral stimuli they label. Inter-observer differences in color naming were large and systematic, and we examined whether these differences were associated with differences in color appearance by comparing the hue naming to color percepts assessed by hue scaling measured in the same observers (from Emery et al., 2017). Variability in both tasks again depended on multiple (7 or 8) factors, with some Varimax-rotated factors specific to hue naming or hue scaling, but others common to corresponding stimuli for both judgments. The latter suggests that at least some of the differences in how individuals name or categorize color are related to differences in how the stimuli are perceived.