Improved color test results with large-field viewing in dichromats

M. E. Breton and B. W. Tansley

Standard methods for screening color vision defects may be expected to underestimate a color defective's complete chromatic discrimination abilities because the viewing field is confined to the fovea (central 2 degrees). Large-field (8 degrees) Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue and dichotomous (D-15) tests were constructed. The 100-hue test, along with its small-field counterpart, was administered to five deuteranopes (green defectives) and four protanopes (red defectives). The D-15 small- and large-field tests were given to these same subjects with the addition of two deuteranopes and one protanope. Both deuteranopes and protanopes showed marked improvement on the large-field D-15 and 100-hue tests. This improvement in performance for large-field over small-field viewing is consistent with color-matching data, which show large-field trichromacy in observers who have been demonstrated to be small-field red-green dichromats. These results suggest that tests confined to central fovea viewing provide an incomplete functional description of the color vision of an appreciable number of classic dichromats.