Abstract

That the eye is trichromatic has been known for more than two centuries, and the spectral sensitivity of the cones has been known for nearly three decades. Nonetheless, we have only relatively recently begun to assemble a picture of the topography of the three cone classes across the retina. Trichromacy has been incorporated in the human retina by interleaving three separate submosaics of S, M, L cones in a single tier of receptors. This means that at any single point in the retinal mosaic, the visual system is essentially color blind, and it is only by comparing the responses of different cones at different spatial locations that the visual system can estimate spectral variations in the retinal image. This talk will review what is known about the topography of the three cone submosaics and the perceptual consequences of that topography.

© 1992 Optical Society of America