The effects of prolonged temporal modulation on the differential response of color mechanisms

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) Vol. 32; no. 11; pp. 2065 - 2075
• Main Authors: Shapiro, Arthur G., Zaidi, Qasim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.11.1992; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adaptation; Adaptation, Ocular - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Color Perception - physiology; Color vision; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gain control; Habituation; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Humans; Judgment; Mathematics; Models, Biological; Perception; Photic Stimulation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Sensitivity; Sensory Thresholds; Vision; Sensitivity; Color vision; Gain control; Habituation; Adaptation; Human; Visual stimulus; Perception; Mathematical model; Psychophysics; Colour vision
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/0042-6989(92)90068-T

The identification of three independent cardinal directions in color space suggests the existence of three independent post-receptoral mechanisms that can be desensitized by habituation to a temporally modulated light. In this paper, the differential response of each cardinal mechanism is estimated over a range of inputs before and after habitation. Simple mathematical considerations show that the threshold elevations following temporal modulation are not consistent with multiplicative gain changes; rather, these elevations require a change in the shape of each cardinal mechanism's response function. With this method, the effects of habituation can also be differentiated from the effects of a change in the steady adapting light.