Unique hues, Rayleigh match, and favorite colors: Why do we see different colors than others?

E. Miyahara; E. A. Szewczyk; C. R. Holloway

doi:10.1167/2.10.55

Color naming, unique hues, and hue cancellation predicted from singularities in reflection properties

Visual Neuroscience ◽

10.1017/s0952523806233182 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 23 (3-4) ◽

pp. 331-339 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

DAVID L. PHILIPONA ◽

J. KEVIN O'REGAN

Keyword(s):

Color Naming ◽

Surface Reflection ◽

Unique Hues ◽

Neuronal Representation ◽

Underlying Mechanisms ◽

The One ◽

Unique Green ◽

Psychophysical Studies ◽

Hue Cancellation

Psychophysical studies suggest that different colors have different perceptual status: red and blue for example are thought of as elementary sensations whereas yellowish green is not. The dominant account for such perceptual asymmetries attributes them to specificities of the neuronal representation of colors. Alternative accounts involve cultural or linguistic arguments. What these accounts have in common is the idea that there are no asymmetries in the physics of light and surfaces that could underlie the perceptual structure of colors, and this is why neuronal or cultural processes must be invoked as the essential underlying mechanisms that structure color perception. Here, we suggest a biological approach for surface reflection properties that takes into account only the information about light that is accessible to an organism given the photopigments it possesses, and we show that now asymmetries appear in the behavior of surfaces with respect to light. These asymmetries provide a classification of surface properties that turns out to be identical to the one observed in linguistic color categorization across numerous cultures, as pinned down by cross cultural studies. Further, we show that data from psychophysical studies about unique hues and hue cancellation are consistent with the viewpoint that stimuli reported by observers as special are those associated with this singularity-based categorization of surfaces under a standard illuminant. The approach predicts that unique blue and unique yellow should be aligned in chromatic space while unique red and unique green should not, a fact usually conjectured to result from nonlinearities in chromatic pathways.

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Changes in unique hues induced by chromatic surrounds

Journal of the Optical Society of America A ◽

10.1364/josaa.33.00a255 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. A255 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Susanne Klauke ◽

Thomas Wachtler

Keyword(s):

Unique Hues

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Unique hues

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x97271426 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 184-185 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Alex Byrne ◽

David R. Hilbert

Keyword(s):

Opponent Processes ◽

Unique Hues

Saunders & van Brakel argue, inter alia, that there is “little evidence” for the claim that there are four unique hues (red, green, blue, and yellow), and that there are two corresponding opponent processes. We argue that this is quite mistaken.

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Variations in normal color vision II Unique hues

Journal of the Optical Society of America A ◽

10.1364/josaa.17.001545 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 17 (9) ◽

pp. 1545 ◽

Cited By ~ 119

Author(s):

Michael A. Webster ◽

Eriko Miyahara ◽

Gokhan Malkoc ◽

Vincent E. Raker

Keyword(s):

Color Vision ◽

Normal Color Vision ◽

Unique Hues

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Are there nontrivial constraints on colour categorization?

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x97001428 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 167-179 ◽

Cited By ~ 84

Author(s):

B. A. C. Saunders ◽

J. van Brakel

Keyword(s):

Relevant Literature ◽

Basic Colour ◽

Target Article ◽

Linguistic Evidence ◽

Unique Hues

In this target article the following hypotheses are discussed: (1) Colour is autonomous: a perceptuolinguistic and behavioural universal. (2) It is completely described by three independent attributes: hue, brightness, and saturation: (3) Phenomenologically and psychophysically there are four unique hues: red, green, blue, and yellow; (4) The unique hues are underpinned by two opponent psychophysical and/or neuronal channels: red/green, blue/yellow. The relevant literature is reviewed. We conclude: (i) Psychophysics and neurophysiology fail to set nontrivial constraints on colour categorization. (ii) Linguistic evidence provides no grounds for the universality of basic colour categories. (iii) Neither the opponent hues red/green, blue/yellow nor hue, brightness, and saturation are intrinsic to a universal concept of colour. (iv) Colour is not autonomous.

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Unique Hue Stimulus Choice: A Constraint on Hue Category Formation

Journal of Cognition and Culture ◽

10.1163/156853705774648563 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 5 (3-4) ◽

pp. 387-408 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Rolf Kuehni

Keyword(s):

Derived Categories ◽

Small Subset ◽

Stimulus Choice ◽

Color Categories ◽

Category Formation ◽

Basic Color ◽

Color Categorization ◽

Unique Hues

AbstractBerlin & Kay hue-related basic color categories are compared with the ISCC-NBS system of object color categorization. Though independently derived, categories of the former form a small subset of the latter. A conjecture is proposed that explains the absence of yellow-green and blue-green basic hue categories and the potential for a violet category as the result of constraints on primitive hue category formation due to considerable variation in stimuli selected by color-normal observers as representing for them unique hues.

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