Color perception and compensation in color deficiencies assessed with hue scaling

Abstract

Anomalous trichromats have three classes of cone receptors but with smaller separation in the spectral sensitivities of their longer-wave (L or M) cones compared to normal trichromats. As a result, the differences in the responses of the longer-wave cones are smaller, resulting in a weaker input to opponent mechanisms that compare the LvsM responses. Despite this, previous studies have found that their color percepts are more similar to normal trichromats than the smaller LvsM differences predict, suggesting that post-receptoral processes might amplify their responses to compensate for the weaker opponent inputs. We evaluated the degree and form of compensation using a hue-scaling task, in which the appearance of different hues is described by the perceived proportions of red-green or blue-yellow primary colors. The scaling functions were modeled to estimate the relative salience of the red-green to blue-yellow components. The red-green amplitudes of the 10 anomalous observers were 1.5 times weaker than for a group of 26 normal controls. However, their relative sensitivity at threshold for detecting LvsM chromatic contrast was on average 6 times higher, consistent with a 4-fold gain in the suprathreshold hue-scaling responses. Within-observer variability in the settings was similar for the two groups, suggesting that the suprathreshold gain did not similarly amplify the noise, at least for the dimension of hue. While the compensation was pronounced it was nevertheless partial, and anomalous observers differed systematically from the controls in the shapes of the hue-scaling functions and the corresponding loci of their color categories. Factor analyses further revealed different patterns of individual differences between the groups. We discuss the implications of these results for understanding both the processes of compensation for a color deficiency and the limits of these processes.