spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online August 9, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 2795-2800 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.007377
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JEB
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Roth, L. S. V.
Right arrow Articles by Kelber, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Roth, L. S. V.
Right arrow Articles by Kelber, A.

Colour perception in a dichromat

Lina S. V. Roth1,*, Anna Balkenius2 and Almut Kelber1

1 Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Vision Group, Lund University, Helgonavägen 3, S-22362 Lund, Sweden
2 Department of Plant Protection Biology, The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sundsvägen 14, S-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: lina.roth{at}cob.lu.se)

Accepted 6 June 2007

Most mammals have dichromatic colour vision based on two different types of cones: a short-wavelength-sensitive cone and a long-wavelength-sensitive cone. Comparing the signal from two cone types gives rise to a one-dimensional chromatic space when brightness is excluded. The so-called `neutral point' refers to the wavelength that the animal cannot distinguish from achromatic light such as white or grey because it stimulates both cone types equally. The question is: how do dichromats perceive their chromatic space? Do they experience a continuous scale of colours or does the neutral point divide their chromatic space into two colour categories, i.e. into colours of either short or long wavelengths?

We trained horses to different colour combinations in a two-choice behavioural experiment and tested their responses to the training and test colours. The horses chose colours according to their similarity/relationship to rewarded and unrewarded training colours. There was no evidence for a categorical boundary at the neutral point or elsewhere.

This study suggests that dichromats perceive their chromatic space as a continuous scale of colours, treating the colour at the neutral point as any other colour they can distinguish.

Key words: colour vision, dichromat, horse, mammal, chromatic space


Related articles in JEB:

DICHROMAT DECISIONS
Laura Blackburn
JEB 2007 210: i. [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
L. Blackburn
DICHROMAT DECISIONS
J. Exp. Biol., August 15, 2007; 210(16): i - i.
[Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007