COLOR AND FORM DISCRIMINATION IN THE PERIPHERY OF THE RETINA

Abstract
The retina was mapped for ability to perceive the color and shape of small similarly shaped paper figures of white, grey, blue, green, yellow and red, illuminated by daylight, and moved so that the image on the retina parsed from periphery toward the fovea. The subject called the name of the color as soon as recognized. The number of errors, from least to greatest, was in the order blue, grey, red, yellow, green and white. Yellow and green were frequently mistaken for one another or for white, and white for gray. If the test were to call each color as soon as it could be distinguished from gray the order of errors would be blue 2, white 3, red 6, yellow 11 and green 18. Ability to discriminate improves with practice.