| achromatic system | In the opponent-process view of color vision, the pathway that generates and transmits information about an object's lightness. See chromatic system.
|
 |
|
|
| additive color mixture | A color that results when several component colors are combined in such a way that each component contributes a portion to the spectral composition of the combination. See subtractive color mixture.
|
|
|
|
| brightness | The dimension of visual experience related to the amount of light emitted by an object. See lightness.
|
|
|
|
| chromatic system | In the opponent-process view of color vision, the pathway that generates and transmits information about an object's color. See achromatic system.
|
|
|
|
| color constancy | The tendency of an object's color to remain unchanged despite changes in the spectrum of light falling on—and reflected by—that object.
|
|
|
|
| color contrast | A change in color appearance brought about by juxtaposing particular color pairs.
|
|
|
|
| color deficiency | In humans, a departure from normal trichromatic color vision; takes various forms, including anomalous trichromacy, dichromacy, and monochromacy.
|
|
|
|
| color induction | The tendency of the color of a surface to be influenced by the colors of neighboring surfaces.
|
|
|
|
| complementary | The term describing two colors that can be mixed to form white.
|
|
|
|
| composite light | According to Newton, any light that is made up of several different color components. See pure light.
|
|
|
|
| detection | The process by which an object is picked out from its surroundings; also, the process by which the presence of some object is perceived.
|
|
|
|
| dichromatic | Referring to a person whose eye contains two types of cone photopigments.
|
|
|
|
| discrimination | The process by which one object is distinguished from another.
|
|
|
|
| habituation | The process by which an organism ceases to respond to some stimulus.
|
|
|
|
| hue | The dimension of color experience that distinguishes among red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and so on; the dimension of color most strongly determined by light's wavelength; commonly used as synonym for color. See brightness, saturation.
|
|
|
|
| identification | The cognitive process of distinguishing a particular object. Contrast with gcategorization.
|
|
|
|
| isoluminant | A property of multiple surfaces that differ only in hue, not brightness or saturaction.
|
|
|
|
| microspectrophotometry | A technique for measuring, at various wavelengths, the quantity of light reflected or absorbed by a small object; used to measure cone photopigments.
|
|
|
|
| M cells | Retinal ganglion cells characterized by relatively large cell bodies and axons, large receptive fields, strong response to small differences in light levels in receptive field center and surround, and lack of sensitivity to stimulus wavelength. See P cells.
|
|
|
|
| M-L channel | Color processing network that computes the difference in activity within cones sensitive to medium wavelength (M) and long wavelength (L) light. See S - (M + L) channel.
|
|
|
|
| monochromat | A person whose eye contains just one type of cone photopigment.
|
|
|
|
| neutral point | In a dichromatic eye, the wavelength of light that appears uncolored (neutral in color).
|
|
|
|
| Newton's color circle | A geometric arrangement of colors summarizing the results of mixing varying amounts of different colors.
|
|
|
|
| nonspectral colors | Colors, such as purple, that are not found in the spectrum.
|
|
|
|
| pure light | According to Newton, any light that cannot be broken down into constituent colors. See composite light.
|
|
|
|
| S - (M + L) channel | The color-processing network that computes the difference between activity within cones sensitive to short wavelength (S) and the sum of activity within cones sensitive to medium (M) and long wavelength (L) light. See (M - L) channel.
|
|
|
|
| saturation | The dimension of color experience that distinguishes pale or washed-out colors from vivid colors. See brightness, hue.
|
|
|
|
| spectral colors | Hues that are present in a spectrum created by diffracting white light as, for example, in a rainbow.
|
|
|
|
| subtractive color mixture | A color produced when each of a number of components absorbs a portion of the light's spectrum, thereby subtracting that portion from the reflected spectrum. See additive color mixture.
|
|
|
|
| synesthesia | The rare condition where sensory stimulation evokes an experience ordinarily not associated with that stimulation. In one form of synesthesia, called color/orthographic synesthesia, colors are experienced when viewing black or white letters or numbers.
|
|
|
|
| trichromatic | Referring to a person whose eye contains three types of cone photopigments.
|
|
|
|
| univariance principle | The hypothesis that any photoreceptor's response corresponds to just a single variable, the amount of light absorbed; because photoreceptors obey the univariance principle, the wavelength characteristics of light that stimulate a photoreceptor are not directly represented in the receptor's response.
|
|
|
|
| Young-Helmholtz theory | The theory that human color vision is trichromatic—that is, it depends on the responses of three types of cones.
|