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[Retinal function under conditions of artificial illumination with varying spectral makeup in patients with sclerotic macular dystrophy].

In conditions of a laboratory experiment using illumination of various light sources (by incandescent, luminescent, arc-mercury, natrium lamps), determination of visual acuity, visual field, color perception, restoration time of visual acuity after macular flash lighting (photostress test), Heidinger's phenomenon as well as visocontrastometry after V. V. Volkov, Weston's correction test were conducted in 46 patients (92 eyes) with macular dystrophy and 50 healthy persons in the dynamics of a working day. It was found that the spectral composition of the visible light has a remarkable influence on the function of color perception, contrast sensitivity, reaction of visual analyser on light load, visual ability to work. In patients with macular dystrophy, the dependence on the light medium was expressed much greater than in healthy persons. The highest functional state of the retina and visual ability to work in patients with macular dystrophy were provided by natrium lamps having a maximum radiation in the yellow part of the spectrum. The short-wave visible light of arc-mercury and luminescent lamps somewhat suppressed the functional state of the retina and reduced visual ability to work. The results obtained are important for selection of optimal conditions of work for patients with macular dystrophy.

Adult↗

Illuminant estimation as cue combination.

This work briefly describes a model for illuminant estimation based on combination of candidate illuminant cues. Many of the research issues concerning cue combination in depth and shape perception translate well to the study of surface color perception. I describe and illustrate a particular experimental approach (perturbation analysis) employed in the study of depth and shape that is useful in determining whether hypothetical illuminant cues are actually used in color vision.

Color Perception↗

Red-green chromatic mechanisms in normal aging and glaucomatous observers.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to determine whether normal aging and glaucoma are associated with red-green (R/G) chromatic processing abnormalities, a function that is primarily performed by the parvocellular visual pathway. METHODS: Chromatic processing mechanisms were examined in 98 glaucomatous observers (between the ages of 49 and 93 years; mean age, 70.8 +/- 9.4 [SD]) and 67 normal observers (between the ages of 49 and 88; mean age, 70.6 +/- 10.6 years) with the use of the minimum-motion and motion-nulling paradigms. Phakic glaucomatous (n = 60; mean age, 68.7 +/- 8.9 years) and normal (n = 32; mean age, 69.8 +/- 10.6 years) and pseudophakic glaucomatous (n = 38; mean age, 74 +/- 9.4 years) and normal (n = 35; mean age, 71.4 +/- 10.6 years) subjects were tested to evaluate the effects of lenticular aging on color perception. RESULTS: Phakic observers (normal or glaucomatous) displayed significantly different minimum-motion values than did both their younger counterparts and all the pseudophakic subjects. These results suggest that normal aging with the presence of a natural lens is accompanied by a significant decrease in green-light sensitivity, an effect that is not exacerbated by glaucoma and is primarily related to optical factors. The data also revealed no differences in color motion perception between groups, indicating that the higher cortical mechanisms of the parvocellular pathway implicated in the analysis of information about the middle and long wavelengths of the visible spectrum are not selectively affected by the disease process and normal aging. CONCLUSIONS: Normal aging and glaucoma do not produce significant R/G chromatic processing deficits at retinal and postretinal levels when optical factors are excluded. The authors propose the hypothesis that glaucoma-related effects on motion perception and blue-on-yellow perimetry should be viewed as evidence of loss of ganglion cells that necessitates integration of information over larger retinal areas and more receptor cells than in the R/G chromatic system. Ganglion cells with large receptive fields involve more neural connections and are less numerous than those that respond to R/G information. The functional consequence of this could be that the loss of a single ganglion cell with a larger receptive field would have a greater impact on visual function than the loss of a ganglion cell with a smaller receptive field, such as the ones that process R/G information. The authors believe that glaucoma-induced functional loss is best viewed as related to receptive field structure and function rather than to anatomic cell-type damage.

Aged↗

Perceptions of color preferences-a clue to marital prediction?

In a study of marital adjustment prediction (N = 75 couples), each spouse was asked to indicate a color preference for nine common household articles and predict which color the spouse would choose. A discrepancy score between perceived and actual choices was calculated and compared with scores on the Nye-MacDougall Martial Adjustment Scale. The correlation coefficient between the discrepancy score and ego's marital adjustment was -.27 for the sample as a whole, -.33 for husbands, and -.21 for wives. The correlation between the discrepancy score and mate's marital adjustment was -.17 for the whole sample, -.10 for husbands, and -.23 for wives.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Regeneration of specific nerve cells in lesioned visual cortex of the human brain: an indirect evidence after constant stimulation with different spots of light.

The defective parts of the visual field of two brain-injured patients were stimulated with different spots of light. There is evidence for at least five independent visual functions which can be restored due to constant stimulation of the blind part of the visual field: (1) The constant stimulation of the blind part of the visual field with spots of white light leads to an increase of the visual field for the perception of white light only. (2) The constant stimulation with spots of light of different wavelengths leads to an increase of the visual field for different color perception. To enlarge the visual field for the perception of the color red, a light stimulus with the wavelength of 656 nanometers (nm) was used; for the visual field for the perception of the color green 525 nm; for yellow 578 nm; and for blue 450 nm. (3) The constant stimulation of the blind visual field with black and white light bars of different orientations and constellations leads to an increase of the foveal acuity and an improvement of form perception in the periphery of the visual field. The results suggest that the recovery of visual functions, different color perception and form perception, may depend upon neuronal regeneration in the human visual cortex; regeneration occurs with adequate and constant stimulation of its specific neurons.

Adolescent↗

Acute blindness and putaminal necrosis in methanol intoxication.

PURPOSE: To review the neuro-ophthalmological and radiological findings of acute methyl alcohol intoxication. METHOD: 8 acute methyl alcohol intoxication cases were evaluated. RESULTS: All patients were male and their ages varied between 21 and 55. At the initial examination, 6 to 12 days after methanol intake, visual acuity ranged from no light perception to counting fingers at 2 meters with no color perception. Bilateral dense central scotomas were detected in patients whose vision was slightly preserved. Pupillary light reactions were either absent or sluggish. In 4 cases, edema of the optic disk and the peripapillary nerve fiber layer was observed. Three months later, optic atrophy had developed. Five patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Bilateral putaminal hyperintense lesions on T2 weighted images were observed in 3 cases. Two patients died and autopsy permission could not be obtained. Follow-up examination 12 months later revealed optic atrophy in the other six cases, with no improvement in vision. CONCLUSION: Methanol intoxication is detrimental to health, possibly resulting in blindness and occasionally death. In association with ocular signs and the other systemic and laboratory features, the ophthalmologist should be alert to the diagnosis of methanol intoxication in which visual loss may be the only symptom.

Acute Disease↗

Color discrimination, color naming and color preferences in 80-year olds.

The aim of the present study was to investigate color discrimination, color naming and color preference in a random sample of 80-year-old men and women. Knowledge of color perception in old age can be of value when using color contrast, cues and codes in the environment to promote orientation and function. The color naming test indicated that the colors white, black, yellow, red, blue and green promoted recognition to the highest degree among all subjects. A gender-related difference, in favor of women, occurred in naming five of the mixed colors. Women also used more varied color names than men. Color discrimination was easier in the red and yellow area than in the blue and green area. This result correlates positively with visual function on far sight, and negatively with diagnosis of a cataract. The preference order for seven colors put blue, green and red at the top, and brown at the bottom, hence agreeing with earlier studies, and indicating that the preference order for colors remains relatively stable also in old age. This result should be considered when designing environments for old people.

Aged↗

Selective color constancy deficits after circumscribed unilateral brain lesions.

The color of an object, when part of a complex scene, is determined not only by its spectral reflectance but also by the colors of all other objects in the scene (von Helmholtz, 1886; Ives, 1912; Land, 1959). By taking global color information into account, the visual system is able to maintain constancy of the color appearance of the object, despite large variations in the light incident on the retina arising from changes in the spectral content of the illuminating light (Hurlbert, 1998; Maloney, 1999). The neural basis of this color constancy is, however, poorly understood. Although there seems to be a prominent role for retinal, cone-specific adaptation mechanisms (von Kries, 1902; Pöppel, 1986; Foster and Nascimento, 1994), the contribution of cortical mechanisms to color constancy is still unclear (Land et al., 1983; D'Zmura and Lennie, 1986). We examined the color perception of 27 patients with defined unilateral lesions mainly located in the parieto-temporo-occipital and fronto-parieto-temporal cortex. With a battery of clinical and specially designed color vision tests we tried to detect and differentiate between possible deficits in central color processing. Our results show that color constancy can be selectively impaired after circumscribed unilateral lesions in parieto-temporal cortex of the left or right hemisphere. Five of 27 patients exhibited significant deficits in a color constancy task, but all of the 5 performed well in color discrimination or higher-level visual tasks, such as the association of colors with familiar objects. These results indicate that the computations underlying color constancy are mediated by specialized cortical circuitry, which is independent of the neural substrate for color discrimination and for assigning colors to objects.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Observer perception of skin color in a study of malignant melanoma.

Observer perceptions of skin color with a 15-step skin tone panel were evaluated during an as yet unpublished case-control study of malignant melanoma. Skin color is a risk factor for melanoma, and the skin tone panel was introduced in an effort to reduce its misclassification. Reflectances of the 15 artificial skin tones were measured at four wavelengths with a reflectance spectrophotometer. Six observers each evaluated the skin color of eight study subjects twice under three lighting conditions, and the results were transformed to reflectance values. Components of variance analysis demonstrated that between-subject variability contributed 63% or more of the variance at wave-lengths of 400-600 nm, while observers, light source, observation time, and error contributed 30% or less. At 700 nm, only 25.5% of the variance was due to subjects, indicating lower levels of reliability. Similarly, the correlation of visual and spectrophotometric assessment of skin reflectance was higher at 400-600 nm (r = 0.63-0.71) than at 700 nm (r = 0.41). Thus, the value of the skin tone panel-based assessments depends upon knowledge of which wavelengths most closely relate to the physiologic risk factor. For instance, reflectance at 650-700 nm is a better measure of skin melanin content than reflectance at lower wavelengths. Since the role of melanin as a risk factor remains in doubt, the utility of this technique has yet to be demonstrated. However, data from the case-control study and from this validity and reliability study will allow us to develop an analytic approach that minimizes misclassification of skin color as a confounder.

Analysis of Variance↗

Color opponent neurons in V1: a review and model reconciling results from imaging and single-unit recording.

The signals in visual cortex that ultimately give rise to color perception remain poorly understood. Controversy has particularly surrounded one aspect of color's encoding in the visual system-opponent processing in primary visual cortex. Early single-unit studies suggested that V1 contains relatively few color-opponent neurons. Neuroimaging measurements, however, have suggested that such neurons might be relatively numerous. Here, we reconcile these apparently discrepant results and conclude that V1 contains relatively large numbers of color-opponent neurons. We first review results from each method and find that most neuroimaging studies provide evidence of substantial color opponency in V1, and that despite apparent controversy, most single-unit studies agree that relatively large numbers of V1 neurons show some sort of color opponency. To reconcile the results from different techniques more formally, we used electrophysiological data to predict the outcomes of neuroimaging experiments. We simulated the expected fMRI response in V1 to spatial patterns of different color, based on the neurons' properties, as reported in Johnson, Hawken, and Shapley, (2001). The simulated responses to stimuli used in Engel, Zhang, and Wandell, (1997) agree well with the actually observed fMRI results. The model identifies several factors that led to the apparent discrepancy between techniques, and makes testable predictions about how these factors influence the magnitude of color-opponent signals. fMRI and single-unit data converge to show that large numbers of color-opponent neurons exist in V1.

Color Perception↗

Color vision deficiencies in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome.

Color perception was tested using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue Test in a sample of persons with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS), and compared to norms from three age cohorts in the early second, fourth and sixth decades. Red-green color errors on the Farnsworth-Munsell did not appear to change appreciably as a function of age or GTS. Blue-yellow error scores did, however, increase with age and were exaggerated in the GTS group. It is concluded that sensory and perceptual disturbances are present in GTS as in other basal cell ganglia disorders. The results are discussed in terms of converging retinal dopaminergic mechanisms also associated with Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases and even with normal aging. Suggestions are offered that daily activities and behavior may be affected by spatial and chromatic deficiencies.

Adult↗

Ratio model for suprathreshold hue-increment detection.

We use psychophysical techniques to investigate the neural mechanisms subserving suprathreshold chromatic discrimination in human vision. We address two questions: (1) How are the postreceptoral detection mechanism responses combined to form suprathreshold chromatic discriminators? and (2) How do these discriminators contribute to color perception? We use a pedestal paradigm in which the subject is required to distinguish between a pedestal stimulus and the same pedestal added to a chromatic increment (the test). Our stimuli are represented in a cardinal space, in which the axes express the responses of the three postreceptoral detection mechanisms normalized relative to their respective detection thresholds. In the main experiment the test (a hue increment) was fixed in the direction orthogonal to the pedestal in our cardinal space. We found that, for high pedestal contrasts, the test threshold varied proportionally with the pedestal contrast. This result suggests the presence of a hue-increment detector dependent on the ratio of the outputs from the red-green and blue-yellow postreceptoral detection mechanisms. The exception to this was for pedestals and tests fixed along the cardinal axes. In that case detection was enhanced by direct input from the postreceptoral mechanism capable of detecting the test in isolation. Our results also indicate that discrimination in the red-green/luminance and blue-yellow/luminance planes exhibits a behavior similar to discrimination within the isoluminant plane. In the final experiment we observed that thresholds for hue-increment identification (e.g., selecting the bluer of two stimuli) are also governed by a ratio relationship. This finding suggests that our ratio-based mechanisms play an important role in color-difference perception.

Adult↗

Stereo disparity improves color constancy.

Binocular disparity is an aspect of natural viewing. This research investigates whether disparity affects surface color perception. Achromatic settings were obtained and compared for two stereograms of a scene with specular reflections, one stereogram with binocular disparity and one without it (cyclopean view). Binocular disparity was found to improve color constancy. Next, the geometry of specular highlights, which is distorted without binocular disparity, was specifically examined. Measurements compared color constancy with specular reflections that were either normal (with stereo disparity) or distorted (cyclopean view of the specularities). No significant change in constancy was found due to the geometrical distortion of specular highlights that occurs without stereo disparity, suggesting that constancy depends on other features of the percept affected by disparity. The results are discussed in terms of illuminant estimation in surface color perception.

Color Perception↗

Color vision.

Color vision starts with the absorption of light in the retinal cone photoreceptors, which transduce electromagnetic energy into electrical voltages. These voltages are transformed into action potentials by a complicated network of cells in the retina. The information is sent to the visual cortex via the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in three separate color-opponent channels that have been characterized psychophysically, physiologically, and computationally. The properties of cells in the retina and LGN account for a surprisingly large body of psychophysical literature. This suggests that several fundamental computations involved in color perception occur at early levels of processing. In the cortex, information from the three retino-geniculate channels is combined to enable perception of a large variety of different hues. Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that color analysis and coding cannot be separated from the analysis and coding of other visual attributes such as form and motion. Though there are some brain areas that are more sensitive to color than others, color vision emerges through the combined activity of neurons in many different areas.

Animals↗