Colour perception Flashcards
What are the 3 cone types present in most humans ?
- short
- middle
- long wavelength selectivity
What are retinal ganglion cells engaged in ?
wavelength opponent responses as interested in chromatic contrast
-red/green and blue/yellow
What do V1 exhibit in colour perception?
-double wavelength opponent + and mixed.
What is interested in the wavelengths ?
all of the neurons within primary visual pathways are i
Where does colour perception occur ?
in extra striate cortex /area v4- found in left and right cerebral cortices (a particular part of the occipital lobe called lingual gyrus )
What are the areas of V4 a part of ?
of the ventral stream - in v4 is colour perception and constancy.
What are the wavelengths of the visible spectrum (for humans ) ?
range form 400nm(UV) to 700nm (infrared)
What did Newton say ?
Newton (1704): ‘Every surface reflects the rays of its own colour more copiously than the rest & in that reflected light has its colour’
-He conceived colour perception as a simple process, involving ‘colour’ detectors in the eye which detect rays of light reflected from surfaces in our field of views which are reflected more than the rest.
Only the first part of this statement is correct. The second clause (in italics) is wrong: neither surfaces nor light are coloured!- the sweater is not blue-
What is colour?
it is an artificial construct of area v4 of the extra striate processing stream
What is Thomas young trichromatic theory ?
-the human visual system can discriminate between wavelengths differing by only 1-2 nm over the total 300 nm of the visible
spectrum; i.e., we can detect ~200 different hues.
-Because of this
It is impossible to conceive that each sensitive point on the retina contains an infinite number of (receptors), capable of detecting every visible hue, it is necessary to suppose their number is limited; to the 3 primary colours, red, green & blue
(Royal Society London, 1802)
Why did Thomas young suggest the 3 colours red, green and blue ?
they are unique
-cannot be created by mixing colours
-unlike, for example, Yellow = (green + red), Turquoise = (green + blue)
or Purple = (blue + red)
What does Youngs trichromacy theory support ?
the existence of 3 cone types in the human retina containing rhodopsins with different spectral sensitivities:
M Cones: peak absorption, 533nm (green); range ~450-630
L Cones: peak absorption, 564nm (red-ish); range ~480-700
What are the S cones spectral sensitivity ?
S Cones (blue): peak absorption, 420nm (blue); range ~400-530
What are the M cones spectral sensitivity ?
M Cones(green cones): peak absorption, 533nm (green); range ~450-630
What are the L cones spectral sensitivity ?
L Cones(red): peak absorption, 564nm (red-ish); range ~480-700
What do the chromatic sensitivities & ‘tuning curves’ of the 3 isolated
cone types show?
similar Action Spectra (obtained from
intra-cellular electrophysiological recordings) and Absorption
Profiles (obtained from MicroSpectroPhotometry)
Why is one cone type not enough for us to perceive colour ?
an indication of this is that we cant see colours at night when the rods are only working.
Why is one cone type not enough for us to perceive colour ?
an indication of this is that we cant see colours at night when the rods are only working.
-you have to take the output of the 3 cone types to start colour perception
How are the 3 cone outputs are combined at the next step of the visual pathway ?
-Because 4 colours (red vs. green & blue vs. yellow) are never seen merging together at the same point in space (e.g., we have no word for ‘blueish-yellow’) Hering proposed that they are combined at higher levels of the visual system in a ‘mutually destructive’ (i.e., opponent) manner.
Red vs. Green opponency
this is the Ewald Hering (1834-1918): Opponent Theory
Why do you have opponent after images- in powerpoint example ?
- this is because all the green cones that are estimated by the green square when fixating on cross - they start to get tired- this process is called adaptation
- becasue the green cones are combined with the red cones this unleashes the red image against a white background
- same for the blue- blue cones are getting tired out adapting to short wave cones on retina- when blue is removed the yellow opponent colour is shown
What is herrings opponent theory also supported by ?
by -physiological
recordings showing 2 types of chromatically opponent RGCs:
What are the 2 subtypes of retinal ganglion cell that mediate different types of wavelength opponency ?
Type I ganglion cells : with different types Red-Green Opponent, Centre-Surround RFs
e. g One Cone type (L or M) will mediates the RF Centre and the antagonistic Cone type (M or L) mediates the RF Surround.
- medium wavelengths will mediate the centre
- the long wavelengths will mediate the surround
Type ||: Red-Green or Blue-Yellow spatially-overlapping Opponent RFs
- Red/Green: One Cone type (L or M) mediates the ON-response (short wave cones mediate the ON response), and the antagonistic Cone type (M or L) mediates the OFF-response
- Blue/Yellow: S Cone type mediates the ON-response, combined inputs from both the L & M Cones mediate the overlapping OFF-response