Abstract:

Despite technological developments, the colour vision mechanism of converting physical colours into psychological colours remains not clear enough. To fill this void, Chenguang Lu, Associate Professor at Changsha University, has developed the decoding model. Compared with other colour vision zone models, the decoding model can explain colour evolution, colour blindness, and the opponent-process more intuitively. Moreover, it can be applied to colour transformations in computer graphics.

Introduction

Colour perception has long been a topic of scientific interest. Despite vast technological developments, the colour vision mechanism of converting physical colours into psychological colours remains not clear enough. Solutions to this conundrum would help us understand colour vision and benefit industries including materials (textiles, plastics, etc.), lighting and colour imaging. A widely accepted theory of colour vision is that colour signals exist in tri-pigments in the zone of visual cones (photoreceptor cells in the retina) and opponent signals (produced by ganglion cells encoding the colour) in the visual nerves’ zone. This theory underpins mathematical models known as zone models. Unfortunately, zone models to date do not easily reveal why colour signals are processed in this way. Furthermore, they do not demonstrate how colour vision has been evolving, nor why different kinds of colour blindness exist. To bridge these knowledge gaps, Chenguang Lu, Associate Professor in the School of Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics at Changsha University, China, has developed the decoding model, a new version of the zone model. Lu uses his decoding model of colour vision to explain both colour evolution and colour blindness.