Spectral Sensitivity of the Fovea II Dependence on Chromatic Adaptation

The dependence of the foveal luminosity function on chromatic adaptation is investigated in these experiments. Results are compared for 5 different states of adaptation. The adapting fields were a chromatically neutral white and four chromatic fields perceptually unique in hue: blue, green, yellow, and red. The adapting luminance was the same in all cases (= 10 mL). For each adaptation, ten threshold sensitivity functions were measured at every 10 mμ from 410 mμ to 700 mμ, for each of two observers.The spectral sensitivity function is shown to undergo small, but regular and consistent changes with changes in chromatic adaptation. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.