Chromatic detection and discrimination analyzed by a Bayesian classifier

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) Vol. 41; no. 7; pp. 893 - 909
• Main Authors: Eskew, Rhea T., Newton, Jessica R., Giulianini, Franco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2001; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Bayes Theorem; Biological and medical sciences; Chromatic detection; Chromatic discrimination; Color mechanisms; Color Perception - physiology; Differential Threshold; Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Perception; Perceptual Masking - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Vision; Chromatic discrimination; Color mechanisms; Chromatic detection; Human; Color vision; Noise; Perception; Masking; Detection; Psychophysics; Stimulus discrimination
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/S0042-6989(00)00298-4

Detection and threshold-level discrimination of Gabor patches were studied under the conditions of noise masking, in an attempt to isolate ‘higher-order’ or nonclassical color mechanisms. Detection contours in the equiluminant plane of cone contrast space were measured by varying test chromaticity in the presence of chromatic masking noise. Three equiluminant noise directions were used, in separate experiments. In the discrimination experiment, observers had to discriminate between pairs of stimuli that were fixed at their masked threshold contrasts. A Bayesian color classifier model was used to analyze the discrimination data, with no free parameters. There was no evidence of nonclassical color mechanisms in either the detection or discrimination data.