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On the Retinal Origins of the Hering Primaries

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Abstract

This paper argues that the distinctiveness of the Hering primary hues—red, green, blue, and yellow—is already evident at the retina. Basic features of spectral sensitivity provide a foundation for the development of unique hue perceptions and the hue categories of which they are focal examples. Of particular importance are locations in color space at which points of minimal and maximal spectral sensitivity and extreme ratios of chromatic to achromatic response occur. This account builds on Jameson and D’Andrade’s (1997) insight about the relationship between the Hering primaries and chromatic/achromatic ratios, Romney and Chiao’s (2009) color appearance model, and Thornton’s (1971, 1999) research on artificial lighting.

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Notes

  1. The Munsell color system is based on the concepts of Hue, Value, and Chroma. These attributes provide for a three-dimensional, sphere-like color solid:

    • Value (lightness) is the vertical dimension. Steps along the axis run from 0 (black) to 10 (white).

    • Radii from the achromatic axis define different Hues. Hues are organized into 10 equally spaced sectors determined by five principal Hues (the Hering primaries plus purple) and five intermediate pairings of them, with numbered gradations within each hue category. Each Hue sector has 10 steps and it is common to display the Hue circle using 2.5 step intervals, as in Fig. 1.

    • Steps along each radial spoke indicate Chroma (roughly, saturation, level of purity). Stimuli with Chroma zero are achromatic and different combinations of Hue and Value have their own maximum Chroma.

    The standard format for referring to locations in Munsell space is Hue Value/Chroma. For example, chip 2.5RP 6/4 has step 2.5 of Hue RP (Red-Purple), Value 6, and Chroma 4.

  2. The following calculations were done using Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc. Singular value decomposition was performed with PopTools for Excel (http://www.cse.csiro.au/poptools/).

  3. The cone sensitivity curves are on-line at http://www-cvrl.ucsd.edu/cones.htm.

  4. These data are on-line at http://spectral.joensuu.fi/index.php?page=database. The original spectrophotometer-measured Munsell spectra are used. The plant samples were measured with acoutso-optic tunable filters (AOTF). Since AOTF-measured Munsell spectra must be multiplied by ca. 0.8 in order to produce curves that agree with spectrophotometer-measured spectra, I multiplied these plant reflectances by 0.8. Some samples were discarded due to gross underestimation of short wavelength reflectance by AOTF (Kohonen et al 2006, p.383).

  5. These data are on-line at http://speclab.cr.usgs.gov/spectral.lib06/ds231/datatable.html.

  6. These spectra are on-line at http://reflectance.co.uk/new/index.php.

  7. For example, the i,j entry of S, given a raw reflectance matrix A of four columns and an element-wise cubed projection matrix P 3 of four rows, would be: \( {\left( {{A_{i1}}*{ }{P^3}_{1j}} \right)^{1/3}} + {\left( {{A_{i2}}*{ }{P^3}_{2j}} \right)^{1/3}} + {\left( {{A_{i3}}*{ }{P^3}_{3j}} \right)^{1/3}} + {\left( {{A_{i4}}*{ }{P^3}_{4j}} \right)^{1/3}} \). Strictly speaking, since the projection matrix includes negative values, the cube-rooting involves solving for the z that satisfies w = z 3.

  8. The focus on the rate of change of the sensitivity function is due to a helpful suggestion by Justin Broackes.

  9. A language’s basic color terms form the smallest set of simple terms that could be used to name any color. For more on basic color terms and focal choices, see Kay and Regier (2003).

  10. Psychologically basic hues are fundamental to the perceptual organization of the hues. The Hering primaries are obvious candidates for being psychologically basic. It turns out that purple, while being composed of reddishness and bluishness, also has a claim to being psychologically basic. Purple helps “sharpen concepts of pure red and pure blue” (Indow 1987, p.255), as including it (rather than using the four Hering primaries alone) as a principal hue markedly reduces individual differences in ratings of the degrees of red and blue perceived in stimuli; see figures 2 and 3.I in Indow (1987, p.256).

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Kimberly Jameson, A. Kimball Romney, Michael Webster, and Jeff Yoshimi for comments on drafts of this paper and discussions about the issues addressed herein. A special debt of thanks is owed to Justin Broackes and an anonymous referee of this journal, as their feedback was of immense help to my thinking about these matters.

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Correspondence to Wayne Wright.

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Wright, W. On the Retinal Origins of the Hering Primaries. Rev.Phil.Psych. 2, 1–17 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-010-0040-1

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