Color stimuli perception in presence of light scattering

Abstract

Perception of different color contrast stimuli was studied in the presence of light scattering: in a fog chamber in Clermont-Ferrand and in laboratory conditions where light scattering of similar levels was obtained, using different light scattering eye occluders. Blue (shortest wavelength) light is scattered in fog to the greatest extent, causing deterioration of vision quality especially for the monochromatic blue stimuli. However, for the color stimuli presented on a white background, visual acuity in fog for blue Landolt-C optotypes was higher than for red and green optotypes on the white background. The luminance of color Landolt-C optotypes presented on a LCD screen was chosen corresponding to the blue, green, and red color contributions in achromatic white stimuli (computer digital R, G, or B values for chromatic stimuli equal to RGB values in the achromatic white background) that results in the greatest luminance contrast for the white–blue stimuli, thus advancing the visual acuity for the white-blue stimuli. Besides such blue stimuli on the white background are displayed with a uniform, spatially unmodulated distribution of the screen blue phosphor emission over the entire area of the screen including the stimulus C optotype area. It follows that scattering, which has the greatest effect on the blue component of screen luminance, has the least effect on the perception of white–blue stimuli.