Symmetries and asymmetries in chromatic discrimination.

Under conditions of adaptation to a steady neutral field (metameric to Daylight Illuminant D65), forced-choice thresholds for color discrimination were measured for brief targets presented to the human fovea. Measurements were made along +45° and -45° lines in a MacLeod-Boynton chromaticity space scaled so that the locus of unique yellow and unique blue lay at -45°. The lines were symmetrical relative to the tritan line passing through the chromaticity of D65. Thresholds increased with distance of the probe chromaticity from D65. Thresholds were higher for saturation discrimination than for hue discrimination. A region of enhanced discrimination was found for thresholds measured orthogonally to the locus of unique blue and unique yellow. There may be an analogous enhancement near the loci of unique red and unique green.