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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 566/1/93    most recent jphysiol.2005.084855v1 Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Vakrou, C. Articles by McKeefry, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Vakrou, C. Articles by McKeefry, D.

¹ Department of Optometry, University of Bradford, Richmond Road, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK
² School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

Physiological studies of colour vision have not yet resolved the controversial issue of how chromatic opponency is constructed at a neuronal level. Two competing theories, the cone-selective hypothesis and the random-wiring hypothesis, are currently equivocal to the architecture of the primate retina. In central vision, both schemes are capable of producing colour opponency due to the fact that receptive field centres receive input from a single bipolar cell – the so called ‘private line arrangement’. However, in peripheral vision this single-cone input to the receptive field centre is lost, so that any random cone connectivity would result in a predictable reduction in the quality of colour vision. Behavioural studies thus far have indeed suggested a selective loss of chromatic sensitivity in peripheral vision. We investigated chromatic sensitivity as a function of eccentricity for the cardinal chromatic (L/M and S/(L + M)) and achromatic (L + M) pathways, adopting stimulus size as the critical variable. Results show that performance can be equated across the visual field simply by a change of scale (size). In other words, there exists no qualitative loss of chromatic sensitivity across the visual field. Critically, however, the quantitative nature of size dependency for each of the cardinal chromatic and achromatic mechanisms is very specific, reinforcing their independence in terms of anatomy and genetics. Our data provide clear evidence for a physiological model of primate colour vision that retains chromatic quality in peripheral vision, thus supporting the cone-selective hypothesis.

(Received 10 February 2005; accepted after revision 19 April 2005; first published online 21 April 2005)
Corresponding author C. Vakrou: Department of Optometry, University of Bradford, Richmond Road, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK. Email: c.vakrou{at}bradford.ac.uk

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