Optokinetic Test of Infant Color Vision

In adults, the luminous efficiency of colors provides a means of detecting color deficiencies. For example, green light looks dimmer to a deutan (green-blind) than to a normal adult. We used a new method to measure the luminous efficiency of red and green for 22 one- to three-month-old babies and for one three-month-old boy destined to be color-blind because of a deutan mother. The equiluminant points of the normal mothers and their infants were similar to each other but different from those of the deutan mother and her son. Our new method demonstrates the early maturation of some aspects of color vision, and can identify some color deficiencies in infants.