Temporal modulation sensitivity of the blue mechanism: measurements made with extraretinal chromatic adaptation

Using the counterphase-modulated-tritan-metamers method of Wisowaty and Boynton [Vision Res. 20, 895-909 (1980)], we measured the modulation sensitivity function of the blue mechanism on dark backgrounds and on uniform yellow backgrounds that were produced either by illuminating the retina with yellow light or by filling-in of a stabilized retinal image. When measured on yellow backgrounds, temporal modulation sensitivity was markedly reduced whether the background was produced by retinal illumination or by filling-in. This sensitivity reduction has been attributed by other researchers to changes in the transmission characteristics of the blue/yellow pathway caused by yellow adaptation. Our results obtained with backgrounds that appeared yellow due to filling-in indicate that the site of adaptation must be extraretinal as there was no yellow light reaching the retina in the vicinity of the test probe.