Abstract:
It is well accepted that color sensitivity is greater in the fovea than the periphery. Further support for this has been found through research investigating thresholds in which hues have higher thresholds in the periphery. Of the psychologically pure hues, blue has been found to have the lowest threshold, with green and red showing higher thresholds. The goal of the current studies were to investigate difference thresholds for the psychologically pure hues in central and peripheral vision with children and adults. Participants ages 5 – 23 completed the difference threshold task where red, green, yellow, and blue were compared with small differences in hue to determine thresholds in the fovea, and 50° to the left and right. Overall, adults showed a main effect of location, in which the right periphery had higher thresholds than left and center. A main effect of color suggested that blue had lower thresholds than red, green, and yellow. In children, the lowest thresholds appeared to be for the fovea compared to either periphery. They also showed the lowest mean thresholds for blue, and highest for green. These results supported previous research suggesting that color sensitivity is greater in the fovea than the periphery, as well as showing lower thresholds for blue than green or red.
