Flicker and Flicker Interactions in Human Vision

人类的色觉取决于特定的受体细胞 视网膜中的视锥细胞 一群视锥细胞， 被称为短波长锥或S锥是最敏感的 在光谱的蓝色区域的光;其他人是 中波长或M-视锥细胞，和长波长或L-视锥细胞， 对红色最敏感。 圆锥有助于两个概念 导致视觉感知的信息通道。 强度 在亮度通道中发出光刺激的信号， 在彩色通道中发出信号。 梳理 不同类型受体对 这些不同的渠道一直是一个重要的问题。 本项目将研究 色度和亮度贡献。 一个人类实验对象 彩色测试光的闪烁刚好处于 可见闪烁。 的频率或强度 闪烁，或背景，或倾向于 屏蔽或增强第一个闪烁，都可以改变。 使用非常强烈的光线，这个实验室已经发现了S- 锥体可以对亮度通道有贡献。 快速响应 光强度显然使用一个轻快的路径到亮度 通道，而对颜色的较慢反应使用缓慢的途径 一个半音频道 当前项目将评估 相对突出和时间属性的两个 在更正常的光照水平下，并试图确定 在这些较低的温度下，S锥对亮度的贡献是重要的。 程度. 这项工作使用创新的技术和方法， 传递和分析脉冲刺激，并由此产生结果 这项工作对色觉理论， 彩色光的商业工程测量，以及 了解人类视觉的基本原理

Color vision in humans depends on particular receptor cells called cones in the retina of the eye. One population of cones, known as the short-wavelength cones or S-cones is most sensitive to light in the blue region of the spectrum; others are the medium-wavelength or M-cones, and long-wavelength or L-cones, most sensitive to red. Cones contribute to two conceptual channels of information leading to visual perception. Intensity of light stimuli is signalled in the luminance channel, and color of light is signalled in the chromatic channel. Sorting out the relative contributions of the different kinds of receptors to these different channels has been an important problem. This project will examine the temporal properties of the chromatic and luminance contributions. A human subject will set flicker of a colored test light to be at just the threshold of visible flickering. The frequency or the intensity of the flicker, or the background, or a second stimulus that tends to mask or augment the flicker of the first, can all be varied. Using very intense lights, this lab already discovered that S- cones can contribute to the luminance channel. Fast responses to light intensity apparently use a brisk pathway to a luminance channel, while slower responses to color use a sluggish pathway to a chromatic channel. The current project will asses the relative prominence and the temporal properties of the two pathways at more normal light levels, and try to determine if the S-cone contribution to luminance is important at these lower levels. This work uses innovative techniques and methodology for delivering and analyzing pulsing stimuli, and results from this work will be very important to theories of color vision, to commercial engineering measurements of colored lights, and to understanding human vision in general.