S. Tsujimura et al., Selective cone suppression by the L-M- and M-L-cone-opponent mechanisms inthe luminance pathway, J OPT SOC A, 16(6), 1999, pp. 1217-1228
We investigated how transient changes of background color influence the L-
and M- (long- and middle-wavelength-sensitive-) cone signals in the luminan
ce pathway. Motion identification thresholds were measured for a drifting s
inusoidal grating (1 cycle/deg) modulated along different vector directions
in L- and M-cone contrast space. The color of a central 4-deg-diameter reg
ion was briefly altered (500 ms) by incrementing or decrementing either L-
or M-cone excitation. Incrementing L-cone and decrementing M-cone excitatio
n produced a field that appeared reddish relative to the yellow surround. L
ikewise, incrementing M-cone and decrementing L-cone produced a field that
appeared greenish. Motion identification thresholds were obtained on the ye
llow field following the brief color transitions. The results show that the
threshold for the L-cone direction was selectively elevated by the backgro
und substitution of incrementing L-cone and decrementing M-cone excitation
(shift toward reddish color). The same substitution, however, did not affec
t the threshold in the M-cone direction. Similarly, the threshold for the M
-cone direction was selectively elevated by the background substitution of
incrementing M-cone, decrementing L-cone excitation (shift toward greenish)
without affecting the threshold in the L-cone direction. Experiments using
the motion quadrature paradigm confirmed that these effects occur within t
he luminance mechanism. These results indicate that the activation of L-on
plus M-off signals suppresses the L-cone signal and that the activation of
L-off plus M-on signals suppresses the M-cone signals in the luminance path
way. We propose a retinal model based on the experimental results. (C) 1999
Optical Society of America [S0740-3232(99)00506-2].