Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:58:58.181Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Modelling the Rayleigh match

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2005

P.B.M. THOMAS
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
J.D. MOLLON
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK

Abstract

We use the photopigment template of Baylor et al. (1987) to define the set of Rayleigh matches that would be satisfied by a photopigment having a given wavelength of peak sensitivity (λmax) and a given optical density (OD). For an observer with two photopigments in the region of the Rayleigh primaries, the observer's unique match is defined by the intersection of the sets of matches that satisfy the individual pigments. The use of a template allows us to illustrate the general behavior of Rayleigh matches as the absorption spectra of the underlying spectra are altered. In a plot of the Y setting against the red–green ratio (R), both an increase in λmax and an increase in optical density lead to an anticlockwise rotation of the locus of the matches satisfied by a given pigment. Since both these factors affect the match, it is not possible to reverse the analysis and define uniquely the photopigments corresponding to a specific Rayleigh match. However, a way to constrain the set of candidate photopigments would be to determine the trajectory of the change of match as the effective optical density is altered (by, say, bleaching or field size).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alpern, M. (1979). Lack of uniformity in colour matching. Journal of Physiology 288, 85105.Google Scholar
Alpern, M. & Moeller, J. (1977). The red and green cone visual pigments of deuteranomalous trichromacy. Journal of Physiology 266, 647675.Google Scholar
Alpern, M. & Wake, T. (1977). Cone pigments in human deutan colour vision defects. Journal of Physiology 266, 595612.Google Scholar
Alpern, M., Fulton, A.B., & Baker, B.N. (1987). “Self-screening” of rhodopsin in rod outer segments. Vision Research 27, 14591470.Google Scholar
Baker, H.D. (1966). Single-variable anomaloscope matches during recovery from artificial red blindness. Journal of the Optical Society of America 56, 686689.Google Scholar
Baylor, D.A., Nunn, B.J., & Schnapf, J.L. (1987). Spectral sensitivity of cones of the monkey Macaca fascicularis. Journal of Physiology 390, 145160.Google Scholar
Bone, R.A., Landrum, J.T., & Cains, A. (1992). Optical density spectra of the macular pigment in vivo and in vitro. Vision Research 32, 105110.Google Scholar
Brindley, G.S. (1953). The effects on colour vision of adaptation to very bright lights. Journal of Physiology 122, 332350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burns, S.A. & Elsner, A.E. (1993). Color matching at high illuminances: Photopigment optical density and pupil entry. Journal of the Optical Society of America A 10, 221230.Google Scholar
He, J.C. & Shevell, S.K. (1995). Variation in color matching and discrimination among deuteranomalous trichromats: Theoretical implications of small differences in photopigments. Vision Research 35, 25792588.Google Scholar
Hurvich, L.M. (1972). Color vision deficiencies. In Visual Psychophysics, Vol. 7/4, ed. Jameson, D. & Hurvich, L.M., pp. 582624. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Merbs, S.L. & Nathans, J. (1992). Absorption spectra of the hybrid pigments responsible for anomalous color vision. Science 258, 464466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, D.E. & Rushton, W.A. (1971a). The red–green pigments of normal vision. Vision Research 11, 10451056.Google Scholar
Mitchell, D.E. & Rushton, W.A. (1971b). Visual pigments in dichromats. Vision Research 11, 10331043.Google Scholar
Pokorny, J. & Smith, V.C. (1976). Effect of field size on red–green color mixture equations. Journal of the Optical Society of America 66, 705708.Google Scholar
Pokorny, J., Smith, V.C., & Ernest, J.T. (1980). Macular colour vision defects: Specialized psychophysical testing in acquired and hereditary chorioretinal diseases. International Ophthalmology Clinics 20, 5381.Google Scholar
Rayleigh, L. (1881). Experiments on colour. Nature 25, 6466.Google Scholar
Rushton, W.A. (1972). Pigments and signals in colour vision. Journal of Physiology 220, 131P.Google Scholar
Smith, V.C., Pokorny, J., & Diddie, K.R. (1978). Color matching and Stiles-Crawford effect in central serous choroidopathy. Modern Problems in Ophthalmology 19, 284295.Google Scholar
Stockman, A., Sharpe, L.T., & Fach, C. (1999). The spectral sensitivity of the human short-wavelength sensitive cones derived from thresholds and color matches. Vision Research 39, 29012927.Google Scholar
Willis, M.P. & Farnsworth, D. (1952). Comparative Evaluation of Anomaloscopes, Report #190, pp. 189. U.S. Naval Submarine Base, New London.
Winderickx, J., Battisti, L., Hibiya, Y., Motulsky, A.G., & Deeb, S.S. (1993). Haplotype diversity in the human red and green opsin genes: Evidence for frequent sequence exchange in exon 3. Human Molecular Genetics 2, 14131421.Google Scholar
Wyszecki, G. & Stiles, W.S. (1980). High-level trichromatic color matching and the pigment-bleaching hypothesis. Vision Research 20, 2337.Google Scholar