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Cone Fundamentals

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Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

Synonyms

CIE fundamental color matching functions; Cone spectral sensitivities

Definition

The three cone fundamentals are the spectral sensitivities of the long- (L-), middle- (M-), and short- (S-) wavelength cones measured relative to light entering the cornea. They are also the fundamental color matching functions (CMFs), which in colorimetric notation are referred to as \( \overline{l}\left(\lambda \right) \), \( \overline{m}\left(\lambda \right) \), and \( \overline{s}\left(\lambda \right) \). The simple identity between the cone fundamentals of color matching and the cone spectral sensitivities depends on phototransduction and its property of univariance. The absorption of a photon produces a photoreceptor response that is independent of photon wavelength, so that all information about wavelength is lost. With one cone type, vision is monochromatic. With three cone types, vision is trichromatic.

Trichromacy means that for observers with normal color vision, the color of a test...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Visual Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, 11-43 Bath Street, EC1V 9EL, London, UK

    Andrew Stockman

Authors
  1. Andrew Stockman
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Correspondence to Andrew Stockman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Modern, Optical Instrumentation, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Ming Ronnier Luo

  2. School of Design, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Ming Ronnier Luo

  3. Graduate Institute of Colour and Illumination, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Ming Ronnier Luo

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Stockman, A. (2016). Cone Fundamentals. In: Luo, M.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8071-7_85

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