Protan response times to red lights in a mildly hypoxic environment

Area of Science:

• Vision science
• Human factors engineering
• Physiological optics

Background:

• Color vision defects, such as protanopia, can impact visual perception.
• Understanding reaction times in individuals with color vision deficiencies is crucial for safety-critical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if protans exhibit slower reaction times to red lights compared to individuals with normal color vision (NCV).
• To determine if mild hypoxia differentially affects protan reaction times.

Main Methods:

• Simple reaction times (SRT) to red light-emitting diode (LED) displays were measured using the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT).
• Testing occurred at ground level, simulated high altitude (12,400 ft), and after returning to ground.
• Participants included individuals with normal color vision (NCV), deutan defects, and protan defects.

Main Results:

• Mean reaction times increased by 8% with altitude for all groups.
• Protan reaction times were often faster than the NCV mean and never below the NCV 10th percentile.
• NCV group's slowest mean reaction time was 23% slower than pooled dichromats and anomalous trichromats; dichromats had fewer lapses than trichromats.

Conclusions:

• The study did not demonstrate slower reaction times for protans to red LEDs under experimental conditions.
• Mild hypoxia did not differentially impact protan simple reaction times.
• The red LEDs used were sufficiently bright for protan observers.