Vector model for normal and dichromatic color vision
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Updated: Sep 12, 2026

Visualizing Visual Adaptation
Published on: April 24, 2017
Abstract:
The inclusion of cone mechanisms in a slightly revised version of an earlier model allows accounts of phenomena that involve receptor effects as well as dichromatic color vision. Intensity-dependent parameters that stimulate the adaptation of receptors and opponent and nonopponent mechanisms are varied to predict a wide range of data for both normals and dichromats, including: (i) color matching; (ii) the approximate apparent hue and saturation of the spectrum; (iii) foveal spectral sensitivities obtained by flicker photometry and by detection in the dark and under conditions of achromatic or chromatic adaptation; (iv) heterochromatic additivity failures in the dark-adapted and chromatically adapted eye; (v) approximate differences between brightness and luminance; and, (vi) color and wavelength discrimination under varying adaptation conditions.
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