An experimental test of filter-aided dichromatic color discrimination

Using derived formulas for dichromat colorimetry and related computer graphic colorimetric tools, predictions of color discrimination performance are made for a deuteranope and protanope standard observer for each of three commercial color deficiency "treatment" filters. Five deuteranopes and five protanopes then participated in two experiments. They were asked to order the caps of the D-15 test, and in a second experiment arrange color pairs (from the D-15 test) in order of difference. Predictions and subject performance reveal that although X-Chrom aided dichromats gain both luminous and chromatic information, all dichromats used predominantly chromaticity information in discrimination tasks. The colorimetric tools correctly predicted that protanopes would derive less useful luminous information from the X-Chrom filter compared with deuteranopes , and correctly predicted an increase in discrimination of blues and purples for both classes of red-green color deficients .