A new class of visual defect. Spreading inhibition elicited by chromatic light stimuli

This paper deals with a single male subject, M., who has a well-defined visual defect of a kind not previously described. The defect is associated with a potent inhibitory response to long-wavelength stimuli, which spreads for up to 12 deg from the area of stimulation, suppressing M.'s detection of other high contrast stimuli. The effect can also be observed, weakly, with certain other coloured stimuli, but not with yellows or whites. Detailed psychophysical data are given for threshold sensitivity, colour matching, two-colour increment thresholds and visual acuity, all of which are more or less abnormal, depending on the stimulus colour. No abnormal effects were, however, observed with white light stimuli. On the basis of M.'s ability to fuse red and green random dot stereogram pairs, we argue that the inhibition arises centrally in the visual pathways. and we examine the implications of M.'s response characteristics for the analysis of central visual processing.