PSY280H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Color Vision, Spectral Sensitivity, Photopic Vision
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PSY280H1 Full Course Notes
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Most of the light we see is reflected light. Some of the wavelengths are absorbed by the surfaces they hit. The more light a surface absorbs, the darker it appears. Discrimination: we must be able to tell the difference between one wavelength (or mixture of wavelengths) and another. Appearance: we want to assign perceived colors to lights and surfaces in the world. Spectral sensitivity: sensitivity of a cell or device to different wavelengths on teh electromagnetic spectrum. The combination of sensitivities of the three types of cones give us our overall ability to detect wavelengths from 400nm to about 700nm. Cones work at photopic (daylight) light levels. Photopic: light intensities that are bright enough to stimulate the cone receptors and bright enough to saturate the rod receptors (drive them to their maximum responses) Rod photoreceptors work in scotopic (dimmer) light levels and have a somewhat different sensitivity profile, peaking at about 500nm.
