Variation of chromatic sensitivity across the life span.

Thresholds were measured along three directions in color space for detecting an equiluminant color change of a set of bars embedded in a larger field of spatio-temporal achromatic noise for observers ranging in age from 3 months to 86 years. Pre-verbal observers were assessed with a forced-choice preferential-looking technique while older observers responded orally or manually. Over the life span, thresholds could be described along each color axis tested by a curve with two trends. Thresholds decreased with each doubling of age by nearly a factor of two until adolescence. Thereafter, thresholds increased by a factor of 1.4-2 with each doubling of age. Sensitivity to chromatic differences varied similarly along all three axes tested, suggesting uniformity in the sensitivity of chromatic mechanisms across the life span.