[Examination of central vision. Visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color vision]

In the neurophysiological organization of the visual system, form, color, movement, and depth perception are processed separately. Therefore, sensorial examination methods should test each of these basic functions separately, since they may be affected individually or to different extents by pathologic processes. For diagnosis the limit of visual acuity, i.e., the capacity for discrimination must be searched for, using Paliaga's "limits method". Visual acuity can also be tested in infants by the preferential looking method. Contrast sensitivity is tested using sinusoidal grid patterns of varying contrast and spatial frequency. In routine practice, however, this is usually achieved more easily with acuity cards on which contrast is reduced in several stages. The "two-equation method" is a colorimetric test combining two metameric matches, red + green = yellow, and blue + green = cyan, for testing color vision. The test requires an anomaloscope or anomalometer with four light channels. With this method it is possible to test the "red", "green", and "blue" cones and the "red-green" and "blue-yellow" opponents. The test provides a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of color vision disorders. If no colorimeter is available, classic printed test can be used. However, they might never achieve the same qualitative and quantitative precision.