A case study of cortical colour "blindness" with relatively intact achromatic discrimination.

A patient is described whose most striking visual disorder was a grossly impaired ability to discriminate between different colours (hues) that were matched for brightness. In contrast his ability to discriminate between different neutral greys presented in the same fashion was much less abnormal, even though the greys were perceptually difficult. Although visual acuity was reduced and visual fields were constricted, and the patient's memory was moderately impaired, these associated symptoms could not themselves be the cause of his unusual colour vision. The patient had the symptoms of cerebral achromatopsia, and the relative preservation of his form vision (when his reduced acuity is taken into account) and his achromatic vision supports the view that the many different visual cortical areas recently demonstrated in the brains of monkeys, and presumed to exist in man, have a perceptual specialisation that matches their physiological differences.