Abstract

Cone and ganglion cell densities fall rapidly with eccentricity from the fovea. But the decline is not symmetrical: cell densities decrease more rapidly on the temporal retina. We examined the implications of this spatial organization for color vision. Spectral lights were presented along the horizontal meridian from 40° nasal to 40° temporal. Several stimulus sizes were used to identify the minimal size for best color vision at each retinal locus. Color vision was assessed by means of hue and saturation scaling. Multidimensional scaling was then used to derive uniform appearance diagrams from the data. These diagrams illustrate the color spaces associated with each size-location combination; we also derived discrimination functions from them. As expected from retinal anatomy, peripheral stimuli had to be progressively enlarged to maintain a full range of saturated hues; this enlargement had to be greater in temporal retina to produce comparable sensations to those from the corresponding nasal locations. Small stimuli produced restricted color spaces akin to those of tritanlike deficits. Variations in cone destiny alone cannot account for the changes in color vision across the visual field.

© 1987 Optical Society of America