Perceived Color, Induction Effects, and

Opponent-Response Mechanisms
LEO M. H U R V I C H and D O R O T H E A JAMESON
From the Department of Psychology,New York University,New York

The study of sensory processes m a y take either of two main approaches. In

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the one, the physiological properties of specific sensory anatomical structures
and structure groups are determined and analyzed. This is the line of attack
of most of the contributors to this symposium. In the other approach, which
is the one that our own work takes, the psychophysical properties of the
sensory systems are determined and analyzed, by recording specific behavioral
indices of perceptual response to controlled sensory stimulation. With suffi-
cient experimental ingenuity such behavioral studies can be carried out on
any form of animal. We shall be concerned here with the h u m a n species,
whose behavioral repertory includes verbal report, an extremely valuable
index of sensory response and discrimination.
W h e n the psychologist or psychophysicist attempts to assemble into a co-
herent picture the multitude of facts that have been established about h u m a n
color vision he soon finds that he needs an integrating conceptual scheme for
the way in which the physiological mechanism seems to be functioning. T h e
conceptual scheme that we have found to be most valuable in our own at-
tempts at analysis and understanding of color vision is the Hering theory of
three paired, opponent-color systems (Hering, 1878).
Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of the conceptual model with which
we have been working. Light incident on the retina is assumed to be absorbed
in the receptors by three independent photopigments of differently selective
spectral absorptions. These light absorptions are considered to be responsible
in turn for the excitation of the visual neural response systems, whose proper-
ties seem to be such that they can be represented schematically as paired.
Within each pair, furthermore, the two components are mutually opponent or
antagonistic. The three pairs of independent systems are taken to be directly
associated with the color qualities blue or yellow, red or green, and black
or white. For the specific set of hypothetical photochemical absorptions that
we have taken for the quantitative development of this model, the amounts
and qualities of chromatic response excited by the photosensitive light ab-

The research project of which this study forms a part is being supported by grants from the National
Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

63

The Journal of General Physiology

64 MECHANISMS OF VISION

Neural Responses
+ m 4, + m

b-- f q

i,

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Photochemical Absorptions

Neural Responses

b f

~ "~-f -r-r" ",-r',, !

I. . . . . . k . ~ J ~ ~,=1 . . . . . J

Photochemical Absorptions

y-b = k I (#+r-2=)
r-g - k2(a+r-2#)
w-bk = k 3 (= ,r+#)- k4(¢ ÷p÷~,)
FIGURE 1. Schematic representation of opponent-colors model. Upper diagram: as-
sumes three photochemical substances isolated in individual receptor units. Lower
diagram: assumes three photochemical substances combined in different receptor units
with simpler relations to neural response systems.
HURVICHAND JAMESON Perceived Color and Induction Effects 65

sorptions are specified in the mathematical relations given in Fig. 1. Different

photochemical absorptions from those we have assumed would yield different
mathematical relations, but the basic concepts of the theoretical scheme would.
remain the same. The particular set of absorption functions that we have
assumed yield the simplest mathematical relations that are, at the same time
consistent with a variety of long-durating chromatic and brightness adaptation
phenomena.
The hues associated with the paired neural response systems in the con-
ceptual model are yellow or blue, red or green, and black or white. The word
or is emphasized here because these paired sensory qualities are mutually
exclusive perceptual experiences, i.e., there is no yellowish-blue, there is no

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reddish-green, there is no blackish-white. When the visual system is in an
equilibrium state, that is, with no excess of any one activity over its opponent
in any of the three paired systems, the equilibrium sensation is mid-gray.
Figs. 2A and B show the spectral distributions of these paired responses as
determined by psychophysical experiment for two individuals (Jameson and
Hurvich, 1955). The null technique used to obtain these measures takes ad-
vantage of the mutually opponent nature of the paired hue responses to esti-
mate the relative amounts of the hues evoked by different spectral wave-
lengths of the same energies. When a spectral stimulus is viewed that, under
certain standard conditions, evokes a color sensation with a blue hue compo-
nent, the superposition of a second stimulus, that, acting alone, appears
yellow, causes a progressive paling of the blue hue as more of the "yellow"
wavelength is added to the stimulus field, until finally no trace of blueness re-
mains. This point, at which blueness is no longer seen and at which yellowness
has not yet appeared, is the null point taken as criterion in the experiments. A
different wavelength that evokes a smaller blueness response requires less
energy of the fixed "yellow" stimulus to cancel the blue hue, and thus the
relative energies of the "yellow" stimulus required for blueness cancellation
in the two instances become a measure of the strength of the blueness response
evoked by the two wavelengths in question, and similarly for the remainder
of those wavelengths in the visible spectrum that evoke blues.
Such a null method was used to measure the blue-yellow and red-green
chromatic response curves shown in Fig. 2. The white response was taken as
equivalent to the foveal luminosity function, measured by the absolute,
achromatic brightness threshold for the bright-adapted eye. The opponent
blackness response is evoked only by successive or simultaneous induction,
brought about by preceding or adjacent white stimulation. The spectral func-
tion for amount of blackness evoked by such white induction stimuli would,
therefore, have the same relative distribution as the white response function,
but would be of opposite sign.
The general similarity between the psychophysically determined response
 66 MECHANISMS OF VISION

functions for the two h u m a n observers shown in Fig. 2 and the electrophysio-
logical functions measured for the fish (Mugil) by Svaetichin and his coworkers
(1958) is, of course, apparent. Although the behavioral evidence on fish color
vision is not complete enough to be able to state how similar it is to normal
h u m a n color -vision, it is certainly of interest and relevance that the opponent
mechanism of the conceptual scheme does have a physiological counterpart
as revealed by completely independent electrophysiological techniques.

1.00 I ! I ' I ! l i

OBSERVER

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0.75

+ 0.50
U~
Z
0
o.
U)
I.d 0.25
r,,-
_J
,,::[
(/) 0.00

LIJ
_> o.25
!
_J !
W
r,. - 0.50
<~ /~ --.o----o-- Blue
~b~o/ --<>-too.-. Yellow
--.e--.--e.-- Red
0.75 : :. Green
White
1.00 I i I I I ~ J
400 500 600 700

WAVELENGTH-m/z

Fmum~ 2A. Experimentally measured chromatic a n d achromatic response distributions.

Observer H. See text.

F r o m the basic experimental data in Fig. 2 we can derive the color-mixture

data, discrimination functions and color attribute functions (hue, saturation,
and brightness) for these individuals. We have also used generalized functions
of this sort to represent the average characteristics of a group of representative
individuals with normal color vision and with various color deficiencies, and
most of the comparisons between theoretically predicted and experimentally
measured color vision functions that we have reported in our published papers
are based on such generalized curves (Hurvich and Jameson, 1955, 1958;
Jameson and Hurvich, 1956a and b).
HIJRVICIt AND JAMESON PerceivedColor and Induction Effects 67

T h e curves in Fig. 2 can also be used to represent quantitatively the color

appearances elicited by various light stimuli for a neutral condition of
chromatic adaptation, when the stimulus situation is a simple one involving
only a homogeneous foveal stimulus field within a uniform white surround.
T h e more usual seeing conditions in which an individual views a complexly
patterned stimulus array involves another important visual property that is
basic to the opponent-colors concept of visual function. This concept states
1.00

0.75 0

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O3
t~ + 0.50
O3
Z
0
o.
(n 0.25
1.1.1
n,,

<~
::::)
o3

bJ
>_
.J
0,00

0.25 /
- 0.50
-'o<1' ' ~ ---o-.---o.-- Blue
--o----o--- Yellow
--.e--.--e.-- Red
0.75 = :. Green
White

1.00 I I I I I = a
400 500 600 700

WAVELENGTH -mp.
FmuRE 2B. Experimentally measured chromatic and achromatic response distribu-
tions. Observer J. See text.

that the visual system does not behave as if it were m a d e up of a network of

shielded "private lines" from the retinal points to the higher nervous centers,
but rather that it functions as a highly organized and intimately interrelated
complex of nervous tissue, with the neural activity at any point determined
not only by the focal stimulation at the corresponding point on the retina,
but also by the ongoing activities in all surrounding retinal regions (Hering,
1920; Hurvich and Jameson, 1957). For suprathreshold stimulus areas, this
interrelation is conceived to be an antagonistic one, that is, activity in any
one region induces an opponent process in neighboring regions• It is with these
 68 /~¢IECHANISMS OF VISION

reciprocal interactions, or simultaneous induction effects, that this paper is

primarily concerned.
The fact that the color appearance of a focal stimulus is altered in the
presence of other stimuli in the neighboring regions is well known to all
students of perception (Boring, 1942, chapter 5; Helson, 1938). Nevertheless,
in formal treatments that state the determining relations between physical
stimulation and sensory response, such induced changes in color appearance
are frequently either excluded as "subjective" phenomena not amenable to
rigorous analysis, or else included in the formal treatment as generalized
adaptation effects caused by changes in visual sensitivity.
However, multiplicative changes in the relative sensitivities of the three-

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variable color system cannot account for all of the perceived color changes
that occur in the presence of surrounding, chromatic illumination. This is
demonstrated by the changes t h a t occur in haploscopic (i.e., test stimulus on
one retina, matching stimuli on the other) color equations for different
chromatic adaptations of the two eyes when only the intensity or luminance
of the focal test stimulus is varied. Conventional adaptation analyses that
assume multiplicative changes in sensitivity alone (von Kries, 1905) imply
that the same stimulus proportions will be used for haploscopic color matches
at all photopic luminance levels of the focal test stimulus. Experiment shows,
however, that this expectation is not confirmed, and that color-matching
proportions actually change at different luminance levels of the same test
stimulus when different adaptation/surround stimuli are used in the left and
right eyes (Waiters, 1943; Wright, 1947; Hurvich and Jameson, 1958).
O u r own analysis encompasses induced effects and treats them as incre-
ments or decrements in the response activity in the focal area. It assumes that
these incremental induced activities are proportional to and opposite to the
ongoing activities in the surrounding stimulated regions of the visual system
(Jameson and Hurvich, 1959). Thus, our formal definition of perceived color
(C) is:

c = Z(e + L

in which ex is the stimulus energy at any visible wavelength in the focal area,
xx, ~bx, fix are the relative sensitivities of three generalized response variables of
the visual color system, and I represents the total induced response activity.
This relation may be written m o r e specifically in terms of the three variables
of the opponent-colors theory as:

C = f[(y - b):, + (y -- b)i, (r -- g ) : + (r -- g),, (w -- bk): + (w -- bk),].

Here, (y -- b):, (r -- g):, and (w -- bk): are the responses of the three paired
systems produced by the direct stimulation of the focal area, and (2 -- b)~,
HURVICHAND JAMESON Perceived Color and Induction Effects 69

(r -- g)i, and ( w -- bk)~ are the responses induced in the corresponding

systems of the focal area by stimulation of neighboring regions of the retina.
The magnitude of the induced response I is conceived to be proportional to
and opposite to the amount of excitation in the inducing area, i.e., in the
regions surrounding the focal area. Thus:

(y -- b), = --k(y -- b)., (r -- g ) , -- - - k ( r -- g),,

and ( w - bk)~ = --k(w -- bk),.

The magnitude of the constant k in each of these relations probably depends on

a number of variables, including the separation between the mutual inter-

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action areas, their relative sizes, the particular part of the retina stimulated,
and so on. The experiments reported here are concerned with measurements

ii ! i,,

, FmuRE 3. Outline of test-stimulus pattern.

of such induced changes in perceived color in a complex stimulus situation in

which no attempt was m a d e to single out the individual relevant variables of
size, position, and so on.

INDUCTION EXPERIMENT

Fig. 3 shows a diagram of the stimulus pattern used in these experiments.

Each numbered area within the outlined pattern was uniformly illuminated,
and the stimulus varied both in luminance and in spectral composition from
one area to the next. This stimulus pattern was projected on a translucent
screen, which made it possible to use opaque masks on the observer's side
of the screen to isolate any part of the stimulus pattern. Thus, only a single
uniformly illuminated area might be present in the observer's field of view, or,
when desired, all areas of the total stimulus pattern could be m a d e simul-
taneously visible.
T h e experimental arrangement is shown schematically in Fig. 4. T h e
stimulus pattern was projected on the translucent screen (D) b y two pro-
 7° MECHANISMS OF VISION

jectors, each of which projected a different neutral density pattern of the

same outline as t h a t shown in the diagram in Fig. 3. These patterns were
projected in registration on the screen. Since the two neutral density slides
were made up of different densities in corresponding areas, different amounts
of light were contributed to each area by the two projector sources. Thus,
when a colored gelatin filter was placed in front of one of the projector lenses,
that source contributed a series of illuminated stimulus areas of the same
chromaticity, which differed in luminance from one area to the next. W h e n
the neutral density light pattern from the second projector was added and the
two patterns were in registration on the screen, the colored light in each
area was diluted by the unfiltered light from the second projector by various

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Sc M
LS "rl

FIOVRE 4. Schematic diagram of experimental arrangement. SeM: selector mask; S:

sample; Su: subject;/-.9: light shield; ScM: screen mask; D : diffusing screen; F: filters;
7"1 and T2: transparencies.

amounts, depending on the density of the second neutral slide in the given
area.
T h e observer Su sat in front of the matching cubicle and looked alternately
at the stimulus on the translucent screen to his right, and at a color chart
made up of standard Munsell samples placed flat on a table within the cubicle.
Each such sample chart displays samples of a single nominal Munsell lightness
value. T h e samples are arranged radially around a nominal neutral as center,
h u e varies with the angle of each radius and Munsell chroma (related to per-
ceived color saturation) varies with length of the radius from the nominal
neutral in the center. The spectral reflectances of these standard Munsell
samples have been calibrated, and specifications for each sample illuminated
by one of the standard colorimetric sources are available for transforming the
d a t a to the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage system of colorimetric
stimulus specification (Kelly, Gibson, and Nickerson, 1943). T h e Munsell
samples were illuminated by a standard tungsten light source (2800 ° Kelvin),
and an opaque black selector mask was provided so that each sample on the
chart was viewed as a uniform area within a dark surround. T h e selector
mask was moved over the chart to expose a single sample at a time until a
HURVlCI-t AND JAMESON Perceived Color and Induction Effects 71

satisfactory m a t c h was found to the designated stimulus area of the projected

test pattern.
T h e pattern on the translucent screen and the matching samples could not
be seen simultaneously, and all matches were m a d e successively, by looking
first at the stimulus area on the screen and then selecting the matching color
sample. T h e observer could look back and forth from test stimulus to matching
sample as often as necessary to insure that he had found a satisfactory match.
In cases where a perfect color match could not be found in the available

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G

B6

FIOURE5. Average change in Munsell sample used to match test area I when seen in
isolation and in presence of the total pattern.

array of samples the observer was instructed to select two bounding samples
between which the non-available match step appeared to fall.
At the beginning of each experimental session a preliminary period was used
to familiarize the observer with the Munsell charts. During this time he also
became adapted to the tungsten illumination within the cubicle. In the experi-
ments, the isolated individual areas of the projected test pattern were first
presented and matched individually, in r a n d o m sequence. T h e n the total
pattern was exposed on the screen, and a new color match was again made to
each of the areas seen within the complex surround provided by the total test
pattern.

RESULTS

T h e average results of these color matching experiments for 7 observers are

shown in the series of graphs in Figs. 5 through 10. In these figures, the
plotted locus of each open circle represents the Munsell hue and chroma no-
 7~ MECHANISMS OF VISION

t a t i o n for the m a t c h i n g s a m p l e w h e n the test a r e a d e s i g n a t e d b y the n u m e r -

ical c o d e was isolated b y t h e o p a q u e - m a s k i n g s u r r o u n d ; t h e solid circle r e p -
resents the m a t c h to the s a m e stimulus a r e a w h e n it was v i e w e d in the
p r e s e n c e of the t o t a l stimulus p a t t e r n . T h e W r a t t e n filter used before o n e
p r o j e c t o r was No. 106. I n e a c h figure, it c a n be seen that, for the s a m e test
s t i m u l u s a r e a , the color m a t c h c h a n g e d w h e n the s u r r o u n d i n g i l l u m i n a t i o n

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~Y

B6

Flou~a~ 6. Average change in MumeU sample used to match test area 2 when seen in
isolation and in presence of the total pattern.

p Y

8G

Fxctrl~ 7. Average change in Munsell sample used to match test area 3 when seen in
isolation and in presence of the total pattern.
HURVlCH AND JA~SON PerceivedColor and Induction Effects 73

P Y

p Y

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BG

Fiou~a~ 8. Average change in Munsell sample used to match test area 4 when:seen in
isolation and in presence of the total pattern.

RP~ YR

P Y

BG

Fmvx~ 9. Average change in Munsell sample used to match test area 5 when seen in
isolation and in presence of the total pattern.

was present as c o m p a r e d with the m a t c h to that stimulus area seen in isola-

tion. It can also be seen t h a t the a m o u n t of change in perceived color is not
the same for all test areas. For some test areas there is only a small reduction
in saturation, whereas for others, the hue changes strikingly from a yellow-red
to a blue-green.
Fig. 11 shows the effect for the total pattern in terms of the same Munsell
 74 MECHANISMS OF VISION

P Y

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8G

FIOURE 10. Average change in Munsell sample used to match test area 6 when seen
in isolation and in presence of the total pattern.

P ~Y

B6
FIQUR~. 11. Open circles: Munsell matches to individual areas seen in isolation. Solid
circles: Munsell matches to individual areas seen in presence of the total pattern. Wratten
No. 106 filter. See text.

notations. I n this figure, t h e m a t c h i n g s a m p l e n o t a t i o n for e a c h of the six

test a r e a s is s h o w n b y a n o p e n circle, a n d the g a m u t of p e r c e i v e d hues f o r the
i n d i v i d u a l a r e a s w h e n v i e w e d in isolation is enclosed b y the striated area. T h e
solid circles r e p r e s e n t the m a t c h i n g s a m p l e n o t a t i o n s for the s a m e stimulus
a r e a s w h e n t h e y a r e p r e s e n t e d in the p r e s e n c e of the entire i n t e r a c t i n g stimulus
p a t t e r n . T h e i n c r e a s e in g a m u t of p e r c e i v e d color is obvious. T h e n e x t figure
HtlRVmH AND JAMESON PerceivedColor and Induction Effects 75

RP~

P Y

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BG

FIouP~ 12. Open circles: MunseU matches to individual areas seen in isolation. Solid
circles: Munsell matches to individual areas seen in presence of the total pattern. Wratten
No. 40 filter. See text.

( F i g . 19) s h o w s d a t a f o r t h e s a m e s t i m u l u s p a t t e r n , b u t w i t h a d i f f e r e n t c o l o r e d
filter used in front of one of the projectors (Wratten No. 40). Here, the color
matches for the isolated areas are again restricted to a narrow color gamut,

1.0

Y 0.5

0.0
1.0~
B

Y 05

0.0
I 2 5 4 5 6
TEST STIMULUS
FIGURE 13. Lightness (Y) of Munsell matches to individual areas. Circles: area seen in
isolation; triangles: each area seen in presence of the total pattern. Vertical bars repre-
sent ~r- Upper graph: Wratten No. 106 filter; lower graph: Wratten No. 40 filter. See
text.
 76 M E C H A N I S M S OF V I S I O N

and again the range of perceived color is increased considerably when all
areas are simultaneously present as part of the retinal stimulus pattern.
These figures show only the changes in hue and chroma (or saturation)
with change from homogeneous to patterned retinal light stimulation. T h e
brightness changes that occur are at least as striking. These are shown in
Fig. 13. Here, the brightness change from masked to unmasked viewing con-
ditions is shown for each stimulus area, which is n u m b e r e d on the abscissa,
in units of luminance of the matching samples plotted on the ordinate, T h e
vertical bars represent the sigma values associated with the m e a n luminance
for the group of seven subjects. The upper graph represents the results when

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I
0.5

_ B B R _ _
0.4
Y

0.3 t

02
0.2 03 0.4 0.5 Q6
x

Fioums 14. Chromaticity plot of Munsell matches to individual areas seen in isolation
Wratten No. 106 filter. See text.

an orange filter (Wratten No. 106) was used, and the lower graph those
when a greenish filter (Wratten No. 40) was employed. Again, similar to the
increase in the g a m u t of hues and saturations the net effect of the simultaneous
presence of all stimulus areas in the retinal pattern is an increase in the g a m u t
of perceived lightnesses.

DISCUSSION

This increase in range of perceived color from an impoverished stimulus

range is, of course, the basis of the photographic color projection effects with
which E. Land (I 959) has recendy been concerned and which have aroused
considerable public interest. T h a t these effects by no means challenge the
traditional laws of color-mixture for conditions under which the laws of
color-mixture are relevant, can be demonstrated by plotting the matching
HURVICH AND JAMESON PerceivedColor and Induction Effects 77

data on a chromaticity diagram, as shown in Fig. 14. Here, the matching

samples for the isolated stimulus areas have been specified in terms of the
international CIE standard system of colorimetry, and these specifications
are plotted on a standard chromaticity grid. O n such a chromaticity chart,
stimuli formed by binary mixtures of two primary stimuli, (in this case, the
unfiltered tungsten light from one projector and the filtered light from the
second projector) should, according to the laws of colorimetry, plot along a
straight line whose boundary points are the colorimetric values of the two
primary stimuli. Strictly speaking, the matching data would be expected to
conform exactly to this rule only for a two degree foveal stimulus area and

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I
0.5

04
Y PB ~ ~ ~ ~ R p R
P
0.5

0.2
0.2 0.5 0.4 05 0.6
X

Fmum~ 15. C h r o m a t i c i t y plot of Munsell matches to individual areas seen in presence

of the total pattern. W r a t t e n No. 106 filter. See text.

for a group of observers whose visual characteristics are identical to the

average of the group for which the colorimetric system was standardized.
O u r group data for color matches to the isolated homogeneous stimulus areas
of various sizes and shapes, are therefore, well within the expected degree of
agreement with the requirements of colorimetric theory.
The next figure (Fig. 15) shows another chromaticity plot of the matches
to the same stimulus areas when they are viewed in the presence of the total
illuminated test pattern. Since the individual stimulus elements remain
identical for the "masked" and " u n m a s k e d " situations, the increase in color
gamut clearly has nothing to do with the production of the stimulus pattern
by means of a simultaneous long- and short-wave photographic record. The
colors are now seen as different due only to the simultaneous presence of the
varied surrounding stimulation.
The next two figures (Figs. 16 and 17) show corresponding plots of
 78 MECHANISMS OF VISION

chromaticity matches for the same pattern outline but for the second series of
primary chromaticities (Wratten No. 40 mixed with tungsten).
T h e general nature of the interaction effect is the same in both experiments.
The areas in which the focal stimulation is very nearly neutral show a marked
change in hue in the presence of the total stimulus pattern, and this change
is in a direction complementary or opponent to the hue of the neighboring,
more strongly chromatic stimuli. The latter, on the other hand, show only
slight decreases in saturation. Similarly, those areas that are less bright when
viewed in isolation suffer the most noticeable darkening effect in the presence
of the neighboring, more strongly illuminated, stimulus areas.

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I
0.5

0.4 - -

Y P B ~ ~ ~ R p R
P
0.3

0.2
02. 0.3 0.4 0,5 0.6
X

FmURE 16. C h r o m a t i c i t y plot of Munsell matches to individual areas seen in isolation.

W r a t t e n No. 40 filter. See text.

These changes are completely consistent with our formal treatment of

induced activities as response increments or decrements added to the primary
response evoked by the focal stimulus. A focal area response with, say, a
strong blue chromatic component will suffer only a small percentage decrease
in blueness when a yellowness response increment is induced by a blue sur-
round, whereas the same induced response added to only a weak focal blueness
response m a y be sufficient to cancel completely the primary blueness and
leave an induced yellow remainder. In this way, small differences in stimulus
chromaticity that in themselves would suffice only to yield slight differences
in the saturation of a given hue, can, because of retinal interaction and op-
ponent induction mechanisms, actually evoke perceived color patterns con-
taining both the primary hues aroused by the given stimulus chromaticity,
say, red-yellow, and the induced complementaries of these hues, green-blue.
A quantitative theoretical analysis of these effects is being pursued.
The physiological interactions implied by these brightness and color inter-
HURVICH AND JAMESON PerceivedColor and Induction Effects 79

action effects and the opponent induction responses assumed in the theoretical
schema as the basis for the perceptual effects are not unknown in electrophysi-
ological studies of retinal response (Granit, 1955; Hartline, 1941-42; Hartline,
Wagner, and Ratliff, 1956; Kuffler, 1953). The "receptive field" studies in
various retinal preparations make it clear that impulses originating from a
single retinal receptor cell are dependent on the physiological state and on
the stimulation of the neighboring cells in the retinal receptor field. More-
over, in the simple Limulus eye, stimulation of neighboring receptors induces an
inhibitory effect on the focal receptor, and this is a constant decremental

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0.5

0.4

0.:3

02
0.2 0.3 0.4 0,5 0.6
x

FIGURE 17. Chromaticity plot of Munsell matches to individual areas seen in presence
of the total pattern. Wratten No. 40 filter. See text.

effect, that is, a certain number of impulses are "subtracted" from the focal
response, depending on the location, area and intensity of the neighboring
stimulation. Thus, this opponent induction in the eye of the Limulus is directly
comparable to the kind of mutual interaction process postulated for the h u m a n
eye to account for the color and brightness contrast effects induced by dif-
ferential stimulation of neighboring retinal regions.
A combination of continued psychophysical and electrophysiological ex-
ploration of such effects may be expected to yield enough specific information
so that the roles of photochemical bleaching and neural interaction (a major
unresolved issue) will be more clearly delineated.

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