Development of Infant Contrast Sensitivity to Chromatic Stimuli

We have monitored the development of contrast sensitivity to equiluminant red-green chromatic patterns by monitoring visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in 13 infants. The results confirm our previous report [Morrone, Burr and Fiorentini, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 242 (1990a)] that, before 7-8 weeks of age, there was no response to purely chromatic stimuli, while at the same age luminance stimuli of 20% contrast produced reliable responses. At all ages (even before the onset of a chromatic response) the colour mixture to yield equiluminance was similar to that of adults, suggesting that the relative proportion and efficacy of medium- and long-wave cones is similar for infants as for adults. For both luminance and chromatic stimuli, amplitude increased roughly linearly with log-contrast, so sensitivity thresholds could be predicted by linear extrapolation to the abscissa. Detailed contrast sensitivity curves were measured for four infants at various ages. The results show that luminance and chromatic contrast sensitivity develop independently at different rates, probably reflecting differential development of postreceptoral neural mechanisms.