We used a new time-efficient method to evaluate chromatic-achromatic d
iscrimination in newborn (n = 36) and 1-month-old (n = 34) human infan
ts. Results showed that 74% of newborns discriminated a 10.5 x 17.5 de
g broadband red patch from all relative luminances of an achromatic ba
ckground, but only 14% of newborns did so with a blue, 36% with a gree
n, and 25% with a yellow patch. Most infants who ''failed'' did so at
relative luminances very close to the respective photopic luminance ma
tch. At 1 month, performance improved somewhat although infants still
show clear evidence of discriminating only the red patch. These result
s, the first to be obtained from individual newborns with a method inc
orporating a systematic variation of luminance, imply that early color
vision is very limited. Possible photoreceptoral and neural bases for
these immaturities are discussed.