Early postreceptoral color vision is thought to be organized in terms of two principal axes corresponding to opposing L- and M-cone signals (LvsM) or to S-cone signals opposed by a combination of L- and M-cone signals (SvsLM). These cone-opponent axes are now widely used in studies of color vision, but in most cases the corresponding stimulus variations are defined only theoretically, based on a standard observer. We examined the range and implications of interobserver variations in the cone-opponent axes. We used chromatic adaptation to empirically define the LvsM and SvsLM axes and used both thresholds and color contrast adaptation to determine sensitivity to the axes. We also examined the axis variations implied by individual differences in the color matching data of Stiles and Burch [Opt. Acta6, 1 (1959)]. The axes estimated for individuals can differ measurably from the nominal standard-observer axes and can influence the interpretation of postreceptoral color organization (e.g., regarding interactions between the two axes). Thus, like luminance sensitivity, individual differences in chromatic sensitivity may be important to consider in studies of the cone-opponent axes.
We examined individual differences in the color appearance of nonspectral lights and asked how they might be related to individual differences in sensitivity to chromatic stimuli. Observers set unique hues for moderately saturated equiluminant stimuli by varying their hue angle within a plane defined by the LvsM and SvsLM cone-opponent axes that are thought to characterize early postreceptoral color coding. Unique red settings were close to the +L pole of the LvsM axis, while green, blue, and yellow settings clustered along directions intermediate to the LvsM and SvsLM axes and thus corresponded to particular ratios of LvsM to SvsLM activity. Interobserver differences in the unique hues were substantial. However, no relationship was found between hue settings and relative sensitivity to the LvsM and SvsLM axes. Moreover, interobserver variations in different unique hues were uncorrelated and were thus inconsistent with a common underlying factor such as relative sensitivity or changes in the spectral sensitivities of the cones. Thus for the moderately saturated lights we tested, the unique hues appear largely unconstrained by normal individual differences in the cone-opponent axes. In turn, this suggests that the perceived hue for these stimuli does not depend on fixed (common) physiological weightings of the cone-opponent axes or on fixed (common) color signals in the environment.
Contrast (pattern-selective) adaptation influences perception by adjusting sensitivity to the prevailing pattern of stimulation. We asked how the state of adaptation might depend on the patterns of spatial contrast typical of the natural visual environment. In one set of experiments, we examined whether adaptation to the characteristic amplitude spectra of natural images (which tend to decrease with frequency as 1/f) induces characteristic changes in contrast sensitivity. Contrast thresholds and suprathreshold contrast matches were measured after adaptation to random samples from an ensemble of images of natural outdoor scenes, or synthetic images formed by filtering the amplitude spectra of noise over a range of slopes. Adaptation differentially reduced sensitivity at low to medium spatial frequencies, but losses were not strongly dependent on the slope of the adapting spectra. In a second set of experiments, we examined the figural aftereffects induced by adaptation to naturalistic stimuli, by adapting and testing with images of human faces, for which small configural changes are highly discriminable. Observers adapted to frontal-view images of faces that were distorted by local expansions or contractions about the centre, and then adjusted distortions in test images to try to select the original face. Adaptation strongly biased perception in a direction opposite to the adapting distortion, with strongest aftereffects when test and adapting stimuli were derived from the same face image. Our results suggest that adaptation to the stimuli encountered in the course of normal viewing may exert ubiquitous and selective influences that are important in characterising the normal operating state of the visual system.
We examined visual search for color within the distributions of colors that characterize natural images, by using a foraging task designed to mimic the problem of finding a fruit among foliage. Color distributions were taken from spectroradiometric measurements of outdoor scenes and used to define the colors of a dense background of ellipses. Search times were measured for locating test colors presented as a superposed circular target. Reaction times varied from high values for target colors within the distribution (where they are limited by serial search based on form) to asymptotically low values for colors far removed from the distribution (where targets pop out). The variation in reaction time follows the distribution of background contrasts but is substantially broader. In further experiments we assessed the color organization underlying visual search, and how search is influenced by contrast adaptation to the colors of the background. Asymmetries between blue-yellow and red-green backgrounds suggest that search times do not depend on the separable L-M and S- (L+M) dimensions of early postreceptoral color vision. Prior adaptation facilitates search over adaptation to a uniform background, while adaptation to an inappropriate background impedes search. Contrast adaptation may therefore enhance the salience of novel stimuli by partially discounting the ambient background.
