Colour vision Flashcards
In the dark adapted state, do the different wavelength colours appear the same brightness or variably?
Variably; in the dark adapted state, some colours appear more brighter than others
In the dark adapted state which colours appear the brightest?
Blue-green colours
In the dark adapted state, at what wavelength are the blue-green colours the brightest?
500nm
In the light adapted state, what colours appear the brightest?
yellow-green
In the light adapted state, at what wavelength do yellow-green colours appear the brightest?
555nm
What is the purkinje shift?
The phenomenon of shorter wavelength colours appearing brighter as luminance is reduced
How can the Purkinje shift be experimentally evaluated?
Flicker ERG, because the flicker is set above 25 cycles/s which the rod photoreceptors cannot detect but cone photoreceptors can
What is the photochromatic interval?
The measure of the difference in “brightness” between the a photoreceptor that has evoked a visual response and the brightness of when a colour is registered
What is the ‘trichromatic theory’ of colour vision?
To perceive colour, the electrical responses from the three different wavelength cones needs to be summised
In the fovea, which wavelength of cone is infrequent?
Blue wavelength cone
What is meant by ‘colour constancy’?
Despite different lighting conditions (and therefore wavelengths of light reflected off an object), the colour of the object remains the same i.e. a letterbox appears red in dark and light luminance
What area in the visual system determines colour constancy?
Cortex (higher visual processing)
What is rod monochromatism?
Patient who have faulty cone photoreceptors in the retina, i.e the cones are present but they do not function. Hence, they see everything in various shades of grey
What is the frequency of rod monochromatism in the population?
1 in 30,000
What are the features of rod monochromatism?
- Grey colour
- Poor visual acuity (0.1-0.3)
- high intensity lights are uncomfortable
- nystagmus
- macular dystrophy
- morphologically normal cones but with non-functioning