LECTURE 3:

DATA GRAPHIC 1
COLOUR & PRE-ATTENTIVE
PROCESSING
Davood Shojaei
 OVERVIEW
▪ Visual hierarchy
▪ Neurophysiology
o The eye, eye-brain system
▪ Physical impacts for visualisation
o Acuity
o Contrast
▪ Statistics
THIS LECTURE
▪ Light
▪ Colour vision
▪ Perceptual processing
o Pre-attentive and attentive
o Implications for visualisation
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Light
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INTERACTION WITH SURFACES

▪ Objects in nature are complex and varied

▪ Frequencies of visible light interacting with a surface may be:

(i) transmitted, (ii) absorbed or (iii) reflected

▪ The perceived colour of an object relates to the frequencies of light

o we experience colour surfaces, not coloured light (colour constancy)
o apparent overall reflectance of a surface (lightness constancy)

▪ Texture may cause irregular reflections, so reflected light can vary

▪ Light is complex from a modelling perspective with techniques to approximate its behaviour:
diffuse (e.g. Lambertian), ambient and specular shading, impacting its reflection together
with shadowing
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 INTERACTION WITH SURFACES
Luminance:
Intensity of light emitted
from a surface in a particular
direction (brightness)
www.c-jump.com/bcc/

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 DESCRIBING LIGHT

▪ Different terms can be used to describe the quantity of light,

depending on the perspective:
o Luminance (physical variable)
o Brightness (psychological variable)
o Lightness (psychological variable)

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DESCRIBING LIGHT

▪ Luminance
▪ The measured amount of light, L, coming from a surface source (e.g. display). Unit:
candelas per square meter (𝑐𝑑/𝑚2 )
▪ Can be measured using a luminance meter (reads light incident from a specific
angle)

LUMINOUS
LUMINANCE
INTENSITY
(candelas/m2)
(candelas)

ILLUMINANCE METER

SOURCE
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 REVIEWING PHOTORECEPTORS

▪ Photopic vision
o High ambient conditions (day light), luminance [10,106] cd/m 2

o Max. sensitivity: ~550nm

o Generally cone mediated

▪ Mesopic vision, medium ambient conditions (dusk/dawn)

▪ Scotopic vision
▪ Low ambient conditions (night), luminance [0.001,10-6] cd/m 2

▪ Max. sensitivity: ~507nm

▪ Generally rod mediated (colour is lost)

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REVIEWING PHOTORECEPTORS

Osram and Sylvania (2010)

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REVIEWING PHOTORECEPTORS

Image: Schubert (2006)

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 PROCESSING LIGHT

▪ Brightness
o The perceived amount of light coming from self-luminous sources (e.g. viewing
a display at night).

o A non-linear function, n varies with the size of the patch of light

General form: 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 = 𝑳𝑛

o Be careful of context-dependent definitions where ‘brightness’ may be

something completely different!

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 PROCESSING LIGHT

▪ White’s Illusion :
Different perceived
brightness in
different scenarios

Interactive White’s Illusion: http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/lum-white/index.html GEOM90007

 PROCESSING LIGHT

▪ Simultaneous Brightness Contrast

o Recall: Contrast is the difference in luminance of an object

50%
100%
Light 25%
75%

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 PROCESSING LIGHT

▪ Simultaneous Brightness Contrast

o Recall: Contrast is the difference in luminance of an object

▪ “a grey patch placed on a dark background looks lighter than

the same grey patch on a light background”
(Ware, 2013)

▪ Simultaneous Brightness Contrast

o A well known problem in graphics/map reading when
using grey-scale. Values may be influenced by
surroundings.

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 PROCESSING LIGHT

▪ Simultaneous Brightness Contrast

o Recall: Contrast is the difference in luminance of an object

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 PERCEIVING LIGHT

Other brightness/Contrast issues for visualisation

▪ Text contrast
o Minimum luminance ratio of 3:1 (ISO 9241-3)
10:1 recommended (finer detail requires greater contrast)

▪ Steven’s Power Law applies to all stimuli

o Law states: Perceived sensation S is proportional to the stimulus intensity I
raised to a power of n (exponent)
o 𝑆 = 𝑎𝐼 𝑛

Table: Stevens (1975)

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PERCEIVING LIGHT

Continuum Exponent Condition

Loudness 0.67 3000 Hz tone
Brightness 0.33 In dark
Brightness 1.0 Point source brief flash
Lightness 1.2
Length 1.0 Line feature
Area 0.7 Area feature
Taste 1.3 Sucrose
Taste 1.4 Salt
…

Table: Stevens (1975) GEOM90007

 PROCESSING LIGHT

▪ Lightness

http://www.ransen.com/photometric/What-Is-Luminance.htm
o The perceived reflectance of a surface, e.g., white surface is
‘light’, black surface is ‘dark’. Beware, various models exist.

o Luminance is the amount of light perceived into your eye and it is

completely unrelated to perceived lightness or brightness

o Lightness consistency is the overall reflectance of a surface and it

is achieved in two stages: adaptation and lateral inhibition

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 REVISION QUESTION

▪ A4 black paper in full sun vs. A4 white one in the office

Which would have higher luminance?

Which would have higher lightness? GEOM90007
Colour

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 COLOUR USE

▪ Colour is very important in our daily lives to “break camouflage”

(Ware, 2013)
Find the cherries among the leaves:

Image: Ware (2013)

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COLOUR VISION

▪ Recall: 3 types of cones L, M, S

o Three independent channels of information

▪ Trichromacy (basic theory of colour vision)

▪ Channels are mixed to represent different colours

▪ Three-dimensional colour space (LMS)

▪ Colour deficiencies may collapse colour space to two (or one) dimension

▪ Chroma is Greek for colour, monochromatic refers to a

single-wavelength

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 COLOUR SPACES – FOR VISION

▪ CIE
o Original created 1931 to link wavelengths and perceived colours

▪ sRGB
o Standard red-green-blue, additive, cube based, for displaying
graphics on and between devices

▪ HSV (HLS…)
o Hue-saturation-value (lightness), additive, cylindrical, more
‘intuitive’
o Component definitions on next slide

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 COLOUR SPACES – NOTES

Hue: An angular measurement (analogous to position around a colour wheel), independent of intensity or lightness

Value: Brightness. A value of 0 represents the absence of light, or black. A maximum value means that the colour is
at its brightest

Saturation: Colour intensity. A value of 0 means that the colour is “colourless” (grey); a maximum value means
colour at maximum “colourfulness” for hue angle and brightness.

Lightness: Maximum value means colour is white (regardless of the current values of the hue and saturation
components).
Mac Developer Library (2005)

▪ Avoid confusion
▪ CMYK - Cyan, magenta, yellow, black, subtractive for printing

▪ YUV - Y (luminance) UV (colour), for digital video

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COLOUR SPACES – NOTES

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COLOUR SPACES – NOTES

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 COLOUR SPACES – NOTES

Image: Apple Mac Developer

Library (2005)
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COLOUR SPACES – NOTES

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 ADDITIVE COLOUR – RGB (digital)

Source: Wikipedia
R, G, B
Can range from 0-255

CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Amy Griffin/Penn State University 2004 CIE Colour Space GEOM90007
 HEX(ADECIMAL) COLOUR

Not a colour model, but a specification method used on the web.

» Builds on RGB colours
» Translates an RGB value to a two-digit code ranging from 00 to FF.

RGB (0) → 00
RGB (255) → FF

» Compresses three values into one

» Less error
» Less memory

Griffin 2019
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SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR – CMYK (print)

C, M, Y, K: ranges from 0 – 100% (amount of pigment or ink)

CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Amy Griffin/Penn State University 2004 GEOM90007
HOW DO WE SEE COLOUR?
Perceptual colour spaces: Munsell

Slice through the Munsell colour space

Munsell colour space

CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Amy Griffin/Penn State University 2004 GEOM90007
 SUBTRACTIVE COLOUR – CMYK (print)

Highly saturated colours in HSV are all of equal lightness

Is that what Munsell tells us we perceive?

- NO

Careful, HSV is difficult to use in practice.

CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Amy Griffin/Penn State University 2004 GEOM90007
 PRIMARY COLOURS

• Used in fine arts (and fashion)

• Colours that cannot be created

by mixing other colours in a
given colour space

• Primary colours can

produce other colours
→ secondary and
tertiary

https://www.faspaints.com/ GEOM90007
Piet Mondirian, 1935 GEOM90007
SECONDARY AND TERTIARY COLOURS

https://color-wheel-artist.com/primary-colors/ GEOM90007
 COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS

https://www.nixsensor.com/nixplore-yellow-green/complimentary-color-
wheel-famous/
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Andy Warhol, 1964 GEOM90007
SEQUENTIAL COLOUR SCHEME

One-hue sequential colour schemes

colorbrewer2.org

CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Amy Griffin/Penn State University 2004 Brewer Brewer 2016 GEOM90007
TWO HUE SEQUENTIAL COLOUR SCHEME

CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Amy Griffin/Penn State University 2004 Brewer
Brewer 2016GEOM90007
DIVERGING COLOUR SCHEME

CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Amy Griffin/Penn State University 2004 Brewer
Brewer 2016 GEOM90007
 COLOUR SELECTION: CONTEXTUAL CONGRUENCE

Semantic resonance Affective resonance (Anderson 2017)

Stroop effect
Celebration Celebration
Blue, yellow, pink
Fire, ice Nuclear Nuclear
reactor reactor
accident accident

Lim et al 2013 GEOM90007

GEOM90007
COLOUR COMPLICATIONS

1. SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST
2. COLOUR VISION IMPAIRMENT

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SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST

Griffin 2019 GEOM90007

GEOM90007
SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST

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 COLOUR VISION DEFICIENCIES / IMPAIRMENT

▪ Photoreceptor sensitivity may be varied (may not not affect acuity)

1. Anomalous trichromacy (slight, moderate, severe)
One cone has reduced sensitivity
o Protanomaly, reduced sensitivity to long wave lengths (~red)
o Deuteranomaly, reduced sensitivity to medium wave lengths (~green)
o Tritanomaly, reduced sensitivity to short wave lengths (~blue)

2. Dichromacy
One cone type is either absent or not functioning
o Protanopia, no sensitivity to long wave lengths (~red)
o Deuteranopia, no sensitivity to medium wave lengths (~green)
o Tritanopia, no sensitivity to short wave lengths (~blue)

3. Monochromacy
Two or more cone types are either absent or not functioning GEOM90007
COLOUR VISION DEFICIENCIES / IMPAIRMENT

In some geographic areas, the population perceiving red and green

the same (protan and deutan) is:

8 - 10% of all men

0.5 – 1.0% of all women

More information: Birch (2012) Worldwide prevalence of red-green color deficiency, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, vol. 29, no.3, pp. 313-320

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COLOUR VISION DEFICIENCIES / IMPAIRMENT

https://www.presspubs.com/white_bear/news/cutting-edge-glasses-give-color-to-the-
colorblind/article_432219a2-2a0d-11e7-990b-236c3bb8e6bd.html GEOM90007
COLOUR VISION DEFICIENCIES / IMPAIRMENT

Colour vision impairments are due to deficiencies or

defects in one or more kinds of cone cells GEOM90007
Glozman, 2016
 EXTRACT FROM THE

Ishihara Test
Image: Wikipedia Commons
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COLOUR VISION DEFICIENCIES / IMPAIRMENT

Normal vision Impairment

Griffin 2003, created with Vischeck from Brewer 1997 GEOM90007

 CONFUSING SCHEME ACCOMODATING SCHEME

Slocum et al 2005 CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

Amy Griffin/Penn State University 2004 GEOM90007
 DESIGNING FOR COLOUR VISION IMPAIRMENT

Rules of thumb:
» Test your work using Color Oracle
http://colororacle.org

Examples of safe hue pairs:

red-blue, red-purple
orange-blue, orange-purple
brown-blue. brown-purple
yellow-blue, yellow-purple
yellow-gray, blue-gray

Brewer (2016)GEOM90007
Pre-attentive
Processing GEOM90007
PERCEPTUAL PROCESSING

▪ Eyes quickly search the visual field (refer Lecture 2)

o e.g., saccades

▪ Pre-attentive stage: subconscious acquisition of information stored into the iconic

buffer in ~200 -250 msec

▪ Certain symbol colours and forms “pop-out” from their surroundings

GEOM90007
 PREATTENTIVE (TARGET DETECTION - COLOUR)

What’s the frequency of number 6s in the following?

998075424598370916439819832098934703900
a)
908984564897432315019898320459840698112
849879324907090880198274778796908909320
909238091228380140902389890890123059049

998075424598370916439819832098934703900
908984564897432315019898320459840698112
b) 849879324907090880198274778796908909320
909238091228380140902389890890123059049
Adapted from Ware (2013) GEOM90007
PREATTENTIVE (TARGET DETECTION – HUE)

Image: Healy and Enns (2012)

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PREATTENTIVE (TARGET DETECTION - CURVATURE)

Image: Healy and Enns (2012)

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PREATTENTIVE (BOUNDARY DETECTION –
CONJUCTION OF HUE AND CURVATURE)

Image: Healy and Enns (2012)

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PREATTENTIVE (MORE EXAMPLES)

Image: Healy and Enns (2012)

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 PREATTENTIVE CATEGORIES

Form Colour
▪ Line orientation ▪ Hue
▪ Line length ▪ Intensity
▪ Line width
▪ Line collinearity Motion
▪ Size ▪ Flicker
▪ Curvature ▪ Direction and velocity of motion
▪ Spatial grouping
▪ Blur Spatial Position
▪ Added marks ▪ 2D (x,y) position
▪ Numerosity ▪ Stereoscopic depth

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PREATTENTIVE (CONJUNCTIONS)

Finding the red circle may be slow due to serial searching (post-attentive)

Healy and Enns (2012) GEOM90007

GLYPHS

▪ Commonly used to
represent discrete map data

▪ Data attributes can be

Images: Ware (2013)

mapped to preattentive
categories (e.g., form,
colour, position)
▪ Multidimensional Whisker Plot
o Each data attribute is
represented using a line

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GLYPHS

Image:
Pilar and Ware
(2013)

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 TEXTURE

▪ Textons are fundamental micro-structures in images, considered as the atoms

of pre-attentive human visual perception (Julesz, 1981)

▪ Can be modelled using a mathematical Gabor function to create texture

▪ With hue added, textons have four variables:

1. Size
2. Contrast
3. Orientation
4. Hue
▪ Commonly used to represent continuous map data varying over space

More information: Zhu, Z.-C., Guo, C.-E., Wang, Y. and Xu, Z. (2005) What are textons? International Journal of Computer Vision, 62(1), pages 121-143
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TEXTURE

Only orientation
changed

Ware (2013)
Orientation
and scale
changed

Only contrast
changes
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 WHY IS PREATTENTIVE PROCESSING IMPORTANT?

When displaying information, it is often useful to be able to show things “at a

glance”

If you want users to be able to instantaneously identify features being of type

‘A’, it should be differentiated from all other marks in a pre-attentive way.

(Ware, 2013)

Remember: Conjunctions can be complex requiring serial processing

(post-attentive stage), which takes time

GEOM90007
DESIGNING A SYMBOL SET

Ware (2013) GEOM90007

 PERCEPTUAL PROPERTIES – IMPLICATION FOR
VISUALISATION
▪ Colour
o Allows: perceptual balance, distinguishability, flexibility
▪ Texture
o Allows: Single feature to comprise various perceptual dimensions
▪ Motion
o Allows: Direction and velocity of motion
o Challenges: Wagon wheel effect (see reading links)
▪ Memory
o Allows: Pre-attentive processing to quickly process information
o Challenges: Short term memory (limited capacity requiring chunking), long term
memory (requiring complex coding)
o Interruption and change blindness
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 SUMMARY

» Describing light depends on perspective:

o Luminance (physical variable)
o Brightness (psychological variable)
o Lightness (psychological variable)
» Colour can be separated into three dimensions (hue, saturation, value). Many colour schemes
draw upon more than one of these dimensions.
» How we ’see’ colour and how we produce colour can be mismatched, so take care to account for
how we see.
» Colour scheme type should be matched to data type
» We should design with colour vision impairment in mind.
» With pre-attentive processing in mind we can help the viewer to immediately spot data
characteristics. It helps our memory.

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Thank you!