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Many languages express 'blue' and 'green' under an umbrella term 'grue'. To explain this variation, it has been suggested that changes in eye physiology, due to UV-light incidence, can lead to abnormalities in blue-green color perception which causes the color lexicon to adapt. Here, we apply advanced statistics on a set of 142 populations to model how different factors shape the presence of a specific term for blue. In addition, we examined if the ontogenetic effect of UV-light on color perception generates a negative selection pressure against inherited abnormal red-green perception. We found the presence of a specific term for blue was influenced by UV incidence as well as several additional factors, including cultural complexity. Moreover, there was evidence that UV incidence was negatively related to abnormal red-green color perception. These results demonstrate that variation in languages can only be understood in the context of their cultural, biological, and physical environments., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Blue-light filtering lenses (BFLs) are marketed to protect the eyes from blue light that may be hazardous to the visual system. Because BFLs attenuate light, they reduce object contrast, which may impact visual behaviours such as the perception of object speed which reduces with contrast. In the present study, we investigated whether speed perception is affected by BFLs. Using a two-interval forced-choice procedure in conjunction with Method of Constant Stimuli, participants (n = 20) judged whether the perceived speed of a moving test stimulus (1.5-4.5°/s) viewed through a BFL was faster than a reference stimulus (2.75°/s) viewed through a clear lens. This procedure was repeated for 3 different BFL brands and chromatic and achromatic stimuli. Psychometric function fits provided an estimate of the speed at which both test and reference stimuli were matched. We find that the perceived speed of both chromatic and achromatic test stimuli was reduced by 6 to 20% when viewed through BFLs, and lenses that attenuated the most blue-light produced the largest reductions in perceived speed. Our findings indicate that BFLs whilst may reduce exposure to hazardous blue light, have unintended consequences to important visual behaviours such as motion perception., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Flicker light stimulation can induce short-term alterations in consciousness including hallucinatory color perception and geometric patterns. In the study at hand, the subjective experiences during 3 Hz and 10 Hz stroboscopic light stimulation of the closed eyes were assessed. In a within-subjects design (N = 24), we applied the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (mood state), time perception ratings, the Altered State of Consciousness Rating Scale, and the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory. Furthermore, we tested for effects of personality traits (NEO Five-Factor Inventory-2 and Tellegen Absorption Scale) on subjective experiences. Such systematic quantification improves replicability, facilitates comparisons between pharmacological and non-pharmacological techniques to induce altered states of consciousness, and is the prerequisite to study their underlying neuronal mechanisms. The resulting data showed that flicker light stimulation-induced states were characterized by vivid visual hallucinations of simple types, with effects strongest in the 10 Hz condition. Additionally, participants' personality trait of Absorption scores highly correlated with the experienced alterations in consciousness. Our data demonstrate that flicker light stimulation is capable of inducing visual effects with an intensity rated to be similar in strength to effects induced by psychedelic substances and thereby support the investigation of potentially shared underlying neuronal mechanisms., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Opsins, combined with a chromophore, are the primary light-sensing molecules in animals and are crucial for color vision. Throughout animal evolution, duplications and losses of opsin proteins are common, but it is unclear what is driving these gains and losses. Light availability is implicated, and dim environments are often associated with low opsin diversity and loss. Correlations between high opsin diversity and bright environments, however, are tenuous. To test if increased light availability is associated with opsin diversification, we examined diel niche and identified opsins using transcriptomes and genomes of 175 butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera). We found 14 independent opsin duplications associated with bright environments. Estimating their rates of evolution revealed that opsins from diurnal taxa evolve faster-at least 13 amino acids were identified with higher dN/dS rates, with a subset close enough to the chromophore to tune the opsin. These results demonstrate that high light availability increases opsin diversity and evolution rate in Lepidoptera.

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to study the effect of an organic light-emitting diode sleep mask on daytime alertness, wellbeing, and retinal structure/function in healthy volunteers and in diabetic macular oedema (DMO).Patients and methodsHealthy volunteers in two groups, 18-30 yrs (A), 50-70 yrs (B) and people with DMO (C) wore masks (504 nm wavelength; 80 cd/m 2 luminance; ≤8 h) nightly for 3 months followed by a 1-month recovery period. Changes from baseline were measured for (means): psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) (number of lapses (NL), response time (RT)), sleep, depression, psychological wellbeing (PW), visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, colour, electrophysiology, microperimetry, and retinal thickness on OCT.ResultsOf 60 participants, 16 (27%) withdrew, 8 (13%) before month 1, due to sleep disturbances and mask intolerance. About 36/55 (65%) who continued beyond month 1 reported ≥1 adverse event. At month 3 mean PVT worsened in Group A (RT (7.65%, P<0.001), NL (43.3%, P=0.005)) and mean PW worsened in all groups (A 28.0%, P=0.01, B 21.2%, P=0.03, C 12.8%, P<0.05). No other clinically significant safety signal was detected. Cysts reduced/resolved in the OCT subfield of maximal pathology in 67% Group C eyes. Thinning was greater at 3 and 4 months for greater baseline thickness (central subfield P<0.001, maximal P<0.05).ConclusionSleep masks showed no major safety signal apart from a small impairment of daytime alertness and a moderate effect on wellbeing. Masks were acceptable apart from in some healthy participants. Preliminary data suggest a beneficial effect on retinal thickness in DMO. This novel therapeutic approach is ready for large clinical trials., Competing Interests: IG is the Medical and Scientific Adviser to Polyphotonix Medical Ltd. MNH is the Operations Director at Polyphotonix Medical Ltd. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

In bright light, cone-photoreceptors are active and colour vision derives from a comparison of signals in cones with different visual pigments. This comparison begins in the retina, where certain retinal ganglion cells have 'colour-opponent' visual responses-excited by light of one colour and suppressed by another colour. In dim light, rod-photoreceptors are active, but colour vision is impossible because they all use the same visual pigment. Instead, the rod signals are thought to splice into retinal circuits at various points, in synergy with the cone signals. Here we report a new circuit for colour vision that challenges these expectations. A genetically identified type of mouse retinal ganglion cell called JAMB (J-RGC), was found to have colour-opponent responses, OFF to ultraviolet (UV) light and ON to green light. Although the mouse retina contains a green-sensitive cone, the ON response instead originates in rods. Rods and cones both contribute to the response over several decades of light intensity. Remarkably, the rod signal in this circuit is antagonistic to that from cones. For rodents, this UV-green channel may play a role in social communication, as suggested by spectral measurements from the environment. In the human retina, all of the components for this circuit exist as well, and its function can explain certain experiences of colour in dim lights, such as a 'blue shift' in twilight. The discovery of this genetically defined pathway will enable new targeted studies of colour processing in the brain.

There is theoretical and empirical support for long-term adaptation of human vision to chromatic regularities in the environment. The current study investigates whether relationships of luminance and chromaticity in the natural environment could drive chromatic adaptation independently and differently for bright and dark colors. This is motivated by psychophysical evidence of systematic difference shifts in red-green chromatic sensitivities between contextually bright- versus dark-colored stimuli. For some broad classes of scene content, consistent shifts in chromaticity are found between high and low light levels within images. Especially in those images in which sky and terrain are juxtaposed, this shift has direction and magnitude consistent with the observed psychophysical shifts in the red-green balance between bright and dark colors. Taken together, these findings suggest that relative weighting of M- and L-cone signals could be adapted, in a luminance-dependent fashion, to regularities in the natural environment.

A bright white surround makes a yellow long-wavelength target look both browner and darker. We explored the parallel between these two types of induction by examining their dependence on the proximity of the bright surround to the target at two different time scales with 27 ms and 1 s stimulus durations. We assessed (a) brown induction by adjustment of target luminance to perceptual brown and yellow boundaries and (b) darkness induction by a successive matching procedure. We found that brown induction is a quick process that is robust even for 27 ms stimuli. For darkness induction, there was a strong, spatially localized surround proximity effect for the 27 ms stimuli and much weaker proximity effect for the 1 s stimuli. For brown induction, proximity effects were generally weaker but still showed relatively stronger localized proximity effects for 27 ms stimuli than for 1 s stimuli. For these stimuli, darkness induction predicts the relative pattern but not the magnitudes of brown induction. Both brown and darkness inductions show the operation of quick, spatially localized processes that are apparently superseded by other processes for extended stimulus presentations.

Color varies along dimensions of lightness, hue, and chroma. We used maximum likelihood conjoint measurement to investigate how lightness and chroma influence color judgments. Observers judged lightness and chroma of stimuli that varied in both dimensions in a paired-comparison task. We modeled how changes in one dimension influenced judgment of the other. An additive model best fit the data in all conditions except for judgment of red chroma where there was a small but significant interaction. Lightness negatively contributed to perception of chroma for red, blue, and green hues but not for yellow. The method permits quantification of lightness and chroma contributions to color appearance.

An important goal in characterizing human color vision is to order color percepts in a way that captures their similarities and differences. This has resulted in the continuing evolution of "uniform color spaces," in which the distances within the space represent the perceptual differences between the stimuli. While these metrics are now very successful in predicting how color percepts are scaled, they do so in largely empirical, ad hoc ways, with limited reference to actual mechanisms of color vision. In this article our aim is to instead begin with general and plausible assumptions about color coding, and then develop a model of color appearance that explicitly incorporates them. We show that many of the features of empirically defined color order systems (those of Munsell, Pantone, NCS, and others) as well as many of the basic phenomena of color perception, emerge naturally from fairly simple principles of color information encoding in the visual system and how it can be optimized for the spectral characteristics of the environment.

The Rayleigh match is defined by the range of mixtures of red and green lights that appear the same as an intensity-adjustable monochromatic yellow light. The perceptual match indicates that the red-green mixture and the yellow light have evoked the same respective cone absorptions in the L- and M-cone pathways. Going beyond the existing models, the Poisson noise in cone absorptions is proposed to make the matching proportion of red-green mixtures span a finite range because any mixture in that range evokes cone absorptions that do not differ from those by a yellow light by more than the variations in the absorption noise. We derive a mathematical formula linking the match midpoint or match range with the sensitivities and numerosities of the two cones. The noise-free, exact, matching point, close to the midpoint of the matching range, depends only on the L- and M-cone sensitivities to each of the red, green, and yellow lights [these sensitivities, in turn, depend on the preferred wavelengths (λmax) and optical densities of the cone pigments and the properties of prereceptoral light filtering]. Meanwhile, the matching range depends on both these cone sensitivities and the relative numerosity of the L and M cones. The model predicts that, in normal trichromats, all other things being equal, the match range is smallest when the ratio r between L and M cone densities is r=R(-1/2) with R as the ratio between the sensitivities of the L and M cones to the yellow light, i.e., when L and M cones are similarly abundant in typical cases, and, as r departs from R(-1/2), the match range increases. For example, when one cone type is 10 times more numerous, the match range increases two- to threefold, depending on the sensitivities of the cones. Testing these model predictions requires either a large data set to identify the effect of one factor (e.g., cone numerosity) while averaging out the effects of the other factors (e.g., cone sensitivities) or for all factors to be known. A corollary of this prediction is that, because they are more likely than usual to have L:M cone ratios skewed, the matching ranges of normal female trichromats who are carriers of dichromacy (but not anomalous trichromacy) are likely to have a larger matching range than usual, particularly for the deutan carriers. In addition, the model predicts that, in strong tetrachromats (whose four dimensions of color are preserved post-receptorally), either the Rayleigh matching is impossible or the matching range is typically smaller than usual.

The aim of this work was to assess the influence of dynamic luminance contrast noise masking (LCNM) on color discrimination for color normal and anomalous trichromats. The stimulus was a colored target on a background presented on a calibrated CRT display. In the static LCNM condition, the background and target consisted of packed circles with variable size and static random luminance. In the dynamic LCNM condition, a 10 Hz square luminance signal was added to each circle. The phase of this signal was randomized across circles. Discrimination thresholds were estimated along 20 hue directions concurrent at the color of the background. Six observers with normal color vision, six deuteranomalous observers, and three protanomalous observers performed the test in both conditions. With dynamic LCNM, thresholds were significantly lower for anomalous observers but not for normal observers, suggesting a facilitation effect of the masking for anomalous trichromats.

We explored the color constancy mechanisms of color-deficient observers under red, green, blue, and yellow illuminations. The red and green illuminations were defined individually by the longer axis of the color discrimination ellipsoid measured by the Cambridge Colour Test. Four dichromats (3 protanopes and 1 deuteranope), two anomalous trichromats (2 deuteranomalous observers), and five color-normal observers were asked to complete the color constancy task by making a simultaneous paper match under asymmetrical illuminations in haploscopic view on a monitor. The von Kries adaptation model was applied to estimate the cone responses. The model fits showed that for all color-deficient observers under all illuminations, the adjustment of the S-cone response or blue-yellow chromatically opponent responses modeled with the simple assumption of cone deletion in a certain type (S-M, S-L or S-(L+M)) was consistent with the principle of the von Kries model. The degree of adaptation was similar to that of color-normal observers. The results indicate that the color constancy of color-deficient observers is mediated by the simplified blue-yellow color system with a von Kries-type adaptation effect, even in the case of brightness match, as well as by a possible cone-level adaptation to the S-cone when the illumination produces a strong S-cone stimulation, such as blue illumination.

In a previous study of the phototaxis of green rice leafhoppers, Nephotettix cincticeps (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae), we found positive responses to 735 nm light. Here, we investigated the mechanism underlying this sensitivity to near-infrared light. We first measured the action spectrum using a Y-maze with monochromatic lights from 480 to 740 nm. We thus found that the action spectrum peaks at 520 nm in the tested wavelength range, but that a significant effect is still observed at 740 nm, albeit with a sensitivity 5 log units lower than the peak. Second, we measured the spectral sensitivity of the eye, and found that the sensitivity in the long-wavelength region parallels the behaviorally determined action spectrum. We further identified mRNAs encoding opsins of ultraviolet, blue, and green-absorbing visual pigments, and localized the mRNAs in the ommatidia by in situ hybridization. The electrophysiology, molecular biology and the anatomy of the eye together indicate that the eyes of N. cincticeps do not contain true "red" receptors, but rather that the behavioral response to near-infrared light is mediated by the tail sensitivity of the green receptors in the long-wavelength region of the spectrum.

Equilibrium (unique) red, green, blue, and yellow stimuli look bright in a black surround, but they look dark in a bright white surround, and yellow changes to brown. We investigated differences in equilibrium-hue chromaticity between bright and dark hues to reveal changes in weighting of cone and rod signals. The largest, most consistent shifts were found between yellow and brown, with equilibrium-brown chromaticity shifted toward red compared to equilibrium yellow at both photopic and mesopic levels. Also, at mesopic levels, rod influence reversed for most observers from a green bias for yellow to a red bias for brown. Bright/dark differences for blue, green, and red were much smaller and/or less consistent. Thus, shifts of cone and rod hue biases between bright and dark hues are most prominent in L-M-cone pathways, especially those activated by yellow and brown stimuli.

Introduction: Light curing has become increasingly popular for orthodontic bonding, partly as a result of improvements in light-curing unit technology and higher light intensities. The aim of this study was to determine orthodontists' knowledge of dental light-curing units, their safety aspects, and the possible effects on color perception., Methods: Questionnaires were administered to 120 specialists or trainees to assess their knowledge of light curing and safety issues. In addition, 15 orthodontists and 15 nonorthodontists were asked to complete the Farnsworth Munsell 100 hue test to assess color perception., Results: One hundred four questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of 86.6%. Light-emitting diode lights were the most popular (73.4%), followed by quartz-halogen (9.2%) and plasma lights (5.5%); 11.9% were unsure of the type of light used, 84% did not know the intensity, and 67% did not know the wavelength of the lights. Although most used safety equipment-eg, paddles-7% used no safety measures. Seventy-six percent were either unsure or took no precautions during light curing for staff or patients who had previous cataract surgery, and up to 99% were either unsure or took no precautions during light curing for staff or patients taking photosensitizing medications. With the Farnsworth Munsell test, 28 participants had average color discrimination, with 2 demonstrating superior discrimination. There were no differences between the orthodontists and the controls, or between men and women., Conclusions: Orthodontists' knowledge of dental light-curing units and hazards is poor. Although potential risks are associated with the long-term use of these light-curing units, no effect on color discrimination was detected., (Copyright © 2012 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Psychophysical data have shown that under mesopic conditions cones and rods can interact, improving color vision. Since electrophysiological data have suggested that rods of dichromatic marmosets appear to be active at higher luminance, we aimed to investigate the effect of different levels of sunlight on the foraging abilities of male dichromatic marmosets. Captive marmosets were observed under three different conditions, with respect to their performance in detecting colored food items against a green background. Compared to high and low light intensities, intermediate luminosities significantly increased detection of orange targets by male dichromats, an indication of rod intrusion., (© 2012 Optical Society of America)

Certain hues undergo shifts in their appearance when they are viewed by the peripheral retina. This has often been shown on a 3-primary color CRT monitor. To investigate the possible role of metamerism, we replicated our peripheral color matching experiments using Munsell paper stimuli viewed under real and simulated daylight (using a 3-primary projection system). Using stimuli of constant value and chroma (7/4), observers adjusted the hue of a 3 deg target presented 18 deg nasally, until it matched a 1 deg target presented 1 deg nasally. The magnitude and pattern of measured hue shifts were similar to those measured using CRT stimuli. We conclude that the perceived hue shifts that have previously been reported in the peripheral retina are independent of the nature of the stimulus and of the illuminant., (© 2012 Optical Society of America)

It is well known that there are different preferences in correlated color temperature of light sources for daily living activities or for viewing artistic paintings. There are also data relating the capacity of observers to make judgments on color differences with the spectral power distribution of the light source used. The present work describes a visual color discrimination experiment whose results confirm the existence of a relationship between the correlated color temperature of a light source and the color discrimination capacities of the observers., (© 2012 Optical Society of America)

The Abney effect refers to changes in the hue of lights as they are desaturated. Normally the purity is varied by desaturating with a fixed spectrum. Mizokami et al. [J. Vis.6, 996 (2006)] instead varied purity by using Gaussian spectra and increasing their bandwidth. Under these conditions the hues of lights at short and medium wavelengths tended to remain constant and thus were tied to a fixed property of the stimulus such as the spectral peak, possibly reflecting a compensation for the spectral filtering effects of the eye. Here we test this account more completely by comparing constant hue loci across a wide range of wavelengths and between the fovea and periphery. Purity was varied by adding either a fixed spectrum or by varying the spectral bandwidth, using an Agile Light Source capable of generating arbitrary spectra. For both types of spectra, hue loci were approximated by the Gaussian model at short and medium wavelengths, though the model failed to predict the precise form of the hue changes or the differences between the fovea and periphery. Our results suggest that a Gaussian model provides a useful heuristic for predicting constant hue loci and the form of the Abney effect at short and medium wavelengths and may approximate the inferences underlying the representation of hue in the visual system., (© 2012 Optical Society of America)

Creating a prosthetic device for the blind is a central future task. Our research examines the feasibility of producing a prosthetic device based on electrical stimulation of primary visual cortex (area V1), an area that remains intact for many years after loss of vision attributable to damage to the eyes. As an initial step in this effort, we believe that the research should be carried out in animals, as it has been in the creation of the highly successful cochlear implant. We chose the rhesus monkey, whose visual system is similar to that of man. We trained monkeys on two tasks to assess the size, contrast, and color of the percepts created when single sites in area V1 are stimulated through microelectrodes. Here, we report that electrical stimulation within the central 5° of the visual field representation creates a small spot that is between 9 and 26 min of arc in diameter and has a contrast ranging between 2.6% and 10%. The dot generated by the stimulation in the majority of cases was darker than the background viewed by the animal and was composed of a variety of low-contrast colors. These findings can be used as inputs to models of electrical stimulation in area V1. On the basis of these findings, we derive what kinds of images would be expected when implanted arrays of electrodes are stimulated through a camera attached to the head whose images are converted into electrical stimulation using appropriate algorithms.

Unlabelled: This study was designed to determine whether a new form of treatment of diabetic retinopathy (DR) was acceptable to patients and whether reduction in the maximal activity of rods in diabetes could affect the progress of DR., Methods: In 12 patients, trans-lid retinal illumination of one eye was employed during sleep to prevent the depolarisation of rods and thus reduce their metabolic activity., Techniques: A headband was used to place a source of chemical light over one eye, with its fellow as a control., Measurements: Colour contrast thresholds were measured before and after a period of treatment in treated eyes, and the changes were compared to those in untreated fellow eyes, and areas of 'dark retinal anomalies' (microaneurysms, dot haemorrhages) were measured at the same time points., Results: Patients found this intervention to be acceptable, and no adverse effects were noted. In the majority of cases, and for each outcome measure, the treated eyes improved relative to their fellows. The intervention significantly reduced the tritan thresholds in treated eyes relative to their fellows (P=0.03), and the area of dark retinal anomalies decreased in treated eyes and increased in untreated eyes, with a similar probability., Conclusions: The study showed that this intervention is safe. Although the study was not powered to study efficacy, the results are promising and consistent with other reports that indicate the retina in DR is suffering from hypoxia; however, further trials should be undertaken.

Form and motion perception rely upon the visual system's capacity to segment the visual scene based upon local differences in luminance or wavelength. It is not clear if polarization contrast is a sufficient basis for motion detection. Here we show that crayfish optomotor responses elicited by the motion of images derived from spatiotemporal variations in e-vector angles are comparable to contrast-elicited responses. Response magnitude increases with the difference in e-vector angles in adjacent segments of the scene and with the degree of polarization but the response is relatively insensitive to the absolute values of e-vector angles that compose the stimulus. The results indicate that polarization contrast can support visual motion detection.

In the present study, the light responses of ganglion cells to chromatic stimulus were recorded from isolated retina of neonatal chick. It was found that for some non-color-opponent ganglion cells, the spatiotemporal patterns of the cells' light responses were related to the chromatic information that they received. When stimulus with some chromatic component was applied, some ganglion cells would generate distinguishable temporal patterns of light responses although these cells can be classified as non-color-opponent according to their light responses. The results suggest that in chick retina, the color information might be encoded not only by the color opponent ganglion cells, but also the spatiotemporal patterns of some ganglion cells that are traditionally classified as non-color-opponent subtype.

Australian crab spiders Thomisus spectabilis sit on the petals of flowers and ambush prey such as honeybees. White-coloured T. spectabilis reflect in the UV (UV+ spiders) and previous research has shown that their presence, curiously, attracts honeybees to daisies. We applied an UV-absorber (Parsol) to create UV-absorbing (UV-) spiders that did not reflect any light below 395 nm wavelength. These physical changes of visual signals generated by crab spiders caused honeybees to avoid flowers with UV- spiders on their petals. They also affected the perception of UV- spiders by honeybees and a potential avian predator (blue tits). Compared to UV+ spiders, UV- spiders produced less excitation of the UV-photoreceptors in honeybees and blue tits, which translated into a reduced UV-receptor contrast and a reduced overall colour contrast between UV- spiders and daisy petals. Our results reveal that a clean physical elimination of reflection in the UV range affects perception in predators and prey and ultimately changes the behaviour of prey.

The effects of intensity on chromatic perceptive field size were investigated along the horizontal meridian at 10 degrees temporal eccentricity by manipulating stimulus intensity from 0.3 to 3.3 log trolands. Following light adaptation, observers described the hue and saturation of monochromatic stimuli (440-660 nm, in 10 nm steps) for a series of test sizes (0.098-3 degrees) presented along the time period associated with the cone plateau of the dark-adaptation function. Perceptive field sizes of the four elemental hues (red, green, yellow, and blue) and the saturation component were estimated by three observers at each intensity level for each wavelength. In general, perceptive field sizes of blue and red are the smallest, and yellow and green are the largest. Furthermore, perceptive field sizes of all four hues decrease with increasing stimulus intensity, though the absolute change is largest for green and yellow. The decrease in size with increase in intensity cannot be completely explained in terms of saturation or rod signals and is likely, then, attributable to a cone-based mechanism.

The method for studying the effects of weak magnetic fields and "magnetic vacuum" on the psychophysiological state of a human organism is proposed. This method includes the system of the exposure of a human organism to uniform constant and alternating magnetic fields and the system of computerized psychological tests. The influence of the weakening of constant magnetic field on the psychophysiological state of human organisms was studied. The short-term color memory and reaction rates of 30 subjects have been examined in the local geomagnetic field and in a magnetic field which was reduced in 10 and more times. Statistically significant differences in the color memory test was found in the magnetic field 4 +/- 1 microT in comparison with the results in the geomagnetic field. In the magnetic field 0 +/- 1 microT, slight impairment of color memory was found. Preliminary results in the test of reaction rates showed the tendency to slowing down the reaction rates in the weakened magnetic fields.

Insects are generally described as essentially blind to red wavelengths but sensitive to ultraviolet. Therefore, ants are generally reared in nests where "obscurity" is obtained by the use of a red filter. Yet, no study has been done in order to confirm this idea and to verify whether ants behave differently with or without red light. We performed aggregation experiments with the ant Lasius niger under red light and in total darkness to control the sensitivity of workers. Aggregation is a basic behavior associated with the origin of sociality and with the spatial organization of the colony. We demonstrate that L. niger is sensitive to red wavelengths. Moreover, we show that workers behave differently depending on their ethological caste: foragers aggregate well in total darkness but show low assembly under red light, whereas brood-tenders aggregate well in both conditions. For the first time, a link between vision, social organization and spatial patterns is revealed. The results are discussed relative to their adaptive value and relative to the physiology of the workers. Hypotheses are formulated concerning the acquisition of this change of behavior between castes.

Each cone photoreceptor in the retina responds to light in a limited range of wavelengths, giving it a spectral phenotype. This phenotype is determined by the most prevalent of the photoreceptor's visual-pigment proteins (opsins) and is assumed to remain unchanged during an animal's lifetime. Here we show that in the Pacific pink salmon, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, single cones can switch their spectral phenotype from ultraviolet to blue by regulating the production of the appropriate opsins as the fish grow older. This photoreceptor plasticity may operate to modulate colour vision as the salmon's lifestyle changes.

In an earlier paper, we reported task-specific impairments and improvements caused by applying TMS over cortical visual area V5 [Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 265 (1998) 537]. The phenomenon is further investigated in the present study using two of the previous tasks: a motion/form conjunction in which TMS impaired performance and a colour/form conjunction in which performance was enhanced with TMS. In the earlier experiment, subjects were presented with blocks of trials of one task type perhaps allowing some of the observed effects to arise from knowing the type of stimulus to be discriminated. When blocks of trials consisted of randomly mixed moving/form and colour/form conjunction tasks, TMS over V5 still impaired target-present responses for the moving/form conjunction, but the facilitation seen for colour/form conjunction target-present responses disappeared. We suggest that the competitive inhibition postulated between visual movement areas and colour areas in the brain, in our previous paper, are subject to expectation or knowledge of forthcoming stimulus type.

Aim: The effect of low dose fractionated percutaneous teletherapy to visual acuity and the changes in subfoveolar neovascular membranes in age-related macular degeneration were investigated., Patients and Method: 126 eyes of 118 patients (age 55-89 years; mean 74 ys.) were treated. Best distal and near visual acuity was assessed prior to (= initial visual acuity [IVA]) and 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 months after teletherapy. Fluorescein angiography was performed prior to and 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after radiation therapy. For analysis patients were divided into different groups by IVA and membrane size. Maximal duration of observation was 36 months. Teletherapy was done by a 9-MeV photon linear accelerator through a lateral port in half-beam technique with a single dose of 2 Gy up to a total dose of 20 Gy within 12 days., Results: No severe negative side effects have been observed. Eight patients reported of epiphora and four patients complained of transient sicca syndrome. Visual acuity decreased more than one line in the group IVA 0.05-0.2. The group IVA 0.3-0.5 remained unchanged for 1 year. We found a tendency for increased visual acuity in group IVA > or = 0.6 for 18 months. After that time both groups showed decreased visual acuity, but all these patients reported of reduced metamorphopsia and increased color and contrast perception., Conclusions: There is an influence of low dose fractionated percutaneous teletherapy on visual acuity, subfoveal neovascular membranes and metamorphopsia. IVA and duration of anamnesis play an important role. There seems to be no persistent effect; possibly increased dosage will bring a benefit.

Purpose: While the literature supports the use of radiation therapy for thyroid eye disease, it does not sufficiently describe in detail the results of radiation therapy for optic neuropathy associated with thyroid eye disease. The objective of this study is to quantify the changes in parameters of optic neuropathy after orbital irradiation for thyroid eye disease., Methods and Materials: Twelve consecutive patients with optic neuropathy from thyroid eye disease were followed by a single neuro-ophthalmology practice and treated by one radiation oncologist with radiation therapy from 1991 through 1995. All cases were prospectively followed for visual acuity, color vision, mean deviation, and/or foveal sensitivity and afferent pupillary defect. All patients received 2000 cGy in 10 fractions with megavoltage irradiation to the orbits., Results: Ten of 12 patients were evaluated for follow-up (one moved out of this country and one had a stroke, which confounded interpretation of examination results). An analysis was performed retrospectively while treatment and evaluation remained uniform. Five men and five women formed the basis of this study with a median age of 60 years (35-76 years). Nineteen eyes were evaluated for thyroid optic neuropathy. Improvement in optic nerve function occurred in eight of ten patients. Improvement was seen either during radiotherapy or within 2 weeks of completion. No long-term adverse effects were noted., Conclusion: This study objectively demonstrates improvement in optic neuropathy from radiation therapy for thyroid eye disease.

Performance on a wide range of perceptual tasks improves with practice. Most accounts of perceptual learning are concerned with changes in neuronal sensitivity or changes in the way a stimulus is represented. Another possibility is that different areas of the brain are involved in performing a task while learning it and after learning it. Here we demonstrate that the right parietal cortex is involved in novel but not learned visual conjunction search. We observed that single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the right parietal cortex impairs visual conjunction search when the stimuli are novel and require a serial search strategy, but not once the particular search task has been learned. The effect of TMS returns when a different, novel, serial search task is presented.

The visual pigments and oil droplets in the retina of the diurnal gecko Gonatodes albogularis were examined microspectrophotometrically, and the spectral sensitivity under various adapting conditions was recorded using electrophysiological responses. Three classes of visual pigments were identified, with lambda max at about 542, 475, and 362 nm. Spectral sensitivity functions revealed a broad range of sensitivity, with a peak at approximately 530-540 nm. The cornea and oil droplets were found to be transparent across a range from 350-700 nm, but the lens absorbed short wavelength light below 450 nm. Despite the filtering effect of the lens, a secondary peak in spectral sensitivity to ultraviolet wavelengths was found. These results suggest that G. albogularis does possess the visual mechanisms for discrimination of the color pattern of conspecifics based on either hue or brightness. These findings are discussed in terms of the variation in coloration and social behavior of Gonatodes.

Background: Previous studies have shown that ophthalmologists using blue-green argon laser may suffer subtle defects in their colour vision. A reduction in colour contrast sensitivity in the tritan colour confusion axis, an early manifestation of blue cone photoreceptor injury by the high energy photons of the laser, has been demonstrated and has prompted a reappraisal of laser safety in ophthalmology. Argon laser is also frequently used in scientific research, often at higher power output and for longer periods than is used in clinical practice. The scientists operating these lasers are at risk of developing similar phototoxic retinal injury., Methods: The colour contrast sensitivity of 18 scientists who regularly use short wavelength argon laser was investigated., Results: Eye protection was infrequently used and individuals had been subjected to between 580 and 7200 hours of cumulative laser exposure during the course of their research., Conclusion: The use of blue-green argon laser by the scientists investigated was not associated with a significant reduction in colour contrast sensitivity.

The objects of the study were to determine: (1) whether United Kingdom ophthalmologists who used argon lasers had the elevation of colour-contrast thresholds previously discovered and (2) whether other users of argon lasers showed any unusual loss of colour vision. A total of 1072 UK ophthalmologists filled in a questionnaire about their professional use of lasers, the length of time spent operating, and their out-of-doors activities. Their colour vision was then tested by a new sensitive system, and if any abnormality was detected, a clinical eye examination was performed. The results were as follows: (1) Colour vision testing was shown to be reliable. Any self-selection bias was excluded. Test-retest variability was small. Normal results did not change during the survey. (2) A number of men with high red-green thresholds were discovered. Some were aware of their congenital insensitivity. The frequency of all such defects was less than the known incidence of congenital colour deficiency in the male population. (3) Additionally a number of high tritan (blue-yellow) thresholds were encountered, some associated with reported diabetes and hypertension. In other cases of this type, undetected or unacknowledged systemic disease may be present. (4) After making allowance for all these incidental causes of loss of colour vision, and for the effect of age on colour vision (which is very small) only four of the sample were > 2 SD above normal. (5) However, the average blue-yellow thresholds of ophthalmologists were slightly and highly significantly raised compared with normal, in the first year of the survey. During the second and third years, the mean thresholds declined to normal. Similar but less significant findings were found for protan thresholds. It is concluded that the enhanced safety precautions recently introduced are associated with a recovery of colour vision in this population, demonstrating that any changes to individuals were reversible. Colour vision screening has proved able to detect mild ocular abnormalities due to systemic and congenital disease.

Accounts of solar retinopathy have existed for centuries, but only recently have researchers begun to investigate the mechanisms responsible for producing solar retinal injury. The vast majority of solar retinal injuries occur as a result of viewing a solar eclipse without adequate protection. The extent of structural retinal damage and associated visual impairment is dependent upon the intensity and duration of solar exposure. The exact mechanisms which operate to produce solar retinal compromise are not completely known, but is believed to involve a thermally enhanced photochemical process. Despite the lack of a standardized treatment protocol, most cases of solar retinopathy will improve significantly over time without treatment. Prevention remains the mainstay of therapy. Solar retinopathy must be differentiated from other subtle macular diseases in the absence of a confirmed history of solar exposure.

A new test of colour vision using computer graphics has been used to obtain quantitative estimates of colour contrast sensitivity in ophthalmologists before and after they have treated patients by argon laser retinal photocoagulation. The colour vision of all subjects is normal when tested with the 100-hue test and HRR (Hardy, Rittler, Rand) plates, but colour contrast sensitivity measured along a tritan colour confusion line is selectively impaired after a treatment session. No such change occurs after a medical session spent examining patients with a fundus camera. In younger ophthalmologists the sensitivity recovers several hours after the treatment session ends, but in some persons there is a prolonged and possibly permanent elevation of threshold.

Changes in rhesus spectral sensitivity were induced at low-level (2.1 log td) repetitive exposure to a visible (514 nm) coherent source. Irradiation involved the entire retina. Long-term suppression of intermediate cones was evident in spectral sensitivity functions measured for a very fine photopic (1.85 min-1) acuity criterion. At slightly coarser acuity criteria (1.42 min-1) but still photopic, evidence of rod intrusion was obtained. Recovery from these effects was not obtainable 14 months post-exposure. Possible morphological correlates at photoreceptor ultrastructural levels are discussed. Optical coherency is implicated in these effects.

Optic nerve sheath meningiomas, formerly thought to be rare, have been encountered with surprising frequency since the widespread use of computed tomography. Early diagnosis led to an enthusiastic surgical approach to these lesions, but this has been tempered by the realization that even in the best of hands, blindness followed such surgery with distressing frequency. Optic nerve sheath meningiomas may be divided into primary, secondary, and multiple meningioma groups. Five patients with primary optic nerve sheath meningiomas treated with irradiation therapy are presented in this report. Improvement in visual acuity, stabilization to increase in the visual field, and decrease in size to total regression of optociliary veins, have been documented following irradiation therapy of the posterior orbital and intracanalicular portions of the optic nerve in some of these cases. Although each patient must be carefully individualized, there is no question that visual palliation can be achieved in some cases of optic nerve sheath meningioma. Further investigation of this therapeutic modality in selected cases in advised.

We performed several visual function tests in 17 eyes (ten patients) before and after argon laser iridotomy in an effort to detect diffuse photochemical damage to photoreceptors caused by exposure to the intense, blue-green light that is transmitted into the posterior segment as the iridotomy is created and enlarged. No change was detected in static threshold sensitivity in the central 30 degrees of the field (Octopus perimeter), color sensitivity (Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue test), or visual acuity. Contrast sensitivity showed a small increase at low spatial frequencies and a small decrease at high spatial frequencies. The latter change was small and not necessarily laser related, but precautions to limit laser exposure of the posterior pole are prudent.

Under illumination produced by a high-pressure sodium lamp, colour discrimination, compared to C illumination, is found to be impaired. In particular, young diabetic patients, without signs of retinal involvement, show the expected decrease in total score as age proceeds from 10 to 25 years under C illumination. This is no longer the case under Na illumination.

Twenty-four eyes from 18 patients cured for retinoblastoma by radiation on an average 12 years previously, were re-examined with respect to visual performance. The macular functions, i.e. visual acuity, colour vision and contrast sensitivity demonstrated performances predictable from tumour localization and radiation dose to the macula. The rod functions, i.e. visual field and dark adaptation were found to be relatively resistant to the radiation treatment. A special problem encountered in two-eyed patients was the unavoidable amblyopia due to unequal handicaps in the two eyes at the vulnerable age.