Visual mode switching learned through repeated adaptation to color

• Published in: eLife Vol. 9
• Main Authors: Li, Yanjun, Tregillus, Katherine Em, Luo, Qiongsha, Engel, Stephen A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 15-12-2020; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Color Perception; Color Perception Tests; Color Vision; Female; Humans; Learning; Male; Neuroscience; Photic Stimulation; Time Factors; visual adaptation; visual mode switching; Visual Pathways - physiology; Young Adult; visual adaptation; human; neuroscience; color vision; visual mode switching
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/elife.61179

When the environment changes, vision adapts to maintain accurate perception. For repeatedly encountered environments, learning to adjust more rapidly would be beneficial, but past work remains inconclusive. We tested if the visual system can learn such visual mode switching for a strongly color-tinted environment, where adaptation causes the dominant hue to fade over time. Eleven observers wore bright red glasses for five 1-hr periods per day, for 5 days. Color adaptation was measured by asking observers to identify 'unique yellow', appearing neither reddish nor greenish. As expected, the world appeared less and less reddish during the 1-hr periods of glasses wear. Critically, across days the world also appeared significantly less reddish immediately upon donning the glasses. These results indicate that the visual system learned to rapidly adjust to the reddish environment, switching modes to stabilize color vision. Mode switching likely provides a general strategy to optimize perceptual processes.