This paper posits that a single, unified neural mapping for opponent colors governs a range of fundamental visual phenomena. I argue that this mapping, while consistent across different perceptual contexts, diverges from the standard RGB model in predictable and revealing ways. I will demonstrate this consistency across three seemingly disparate domains: stereoscopic color mixing, color constancy, and color afterimages.
The central divergence this study explores is the breakdown of the blue-yellow complementary axis. While RGB color space defines red-cyan and green-magenta as complementary pairs that are also largely perceived as such, it defines blue and yellow as complements. Perceptually, however, this pairing does not result in achromatic cancellation. Instead, the true perceptual complementary to blue is orange, and the complementary to yellow is violet. This distinction is not a minor artifact but a fundamental feature of our internal color space.
To demonstrate this, this study employs a series of carefully constructed visual demonstrations. Through controlled stereoscopic images, dichoptic presentations, and manipulated illumination scenarios, i will show that the same non-RGB mapping—specifically the blue-orange and yellow-violet pairings—consistently predicts the outcomes in all three phenomena. The following sections will explore how this unified mapping manifests first in binocular color fusion, then in color constancy, and finally in afterimages, revealing how these processes interact and adhere to the same underlying principles of a neurally-encoded color space, distinct from the abstract models used in digital imaging.
WIP//
DRAFT NOTES:
Image Presentation and Viewing Instructions
The images presented in this study serve as carefully constructed visual demonstrations of various color perception phenomena. Due to the precision required for accurate depiction of these effects, image compression, re-encoding, or resizing can introduce significant noise and artifacts that compromise the integrity of the demonstrations. Standard image formats, such as JPEG, even at high quality settings, employ compression algorithms that introduce RGB artifacts and unwanted perceptual filtering. These artifacts are particularly problematic for demonstrations requiring precise control of color manipulation, such as those illustrating color constancy.
For optimal viewing and accurate reproduction of the intended effects, it is strongly recommended to access the original, uncompressed image files. These are provided in PNG (16-bit) format for most examples, or as uncompressed bitmaps. While the thumbnail images included in the article are functional for illustrative purposes, they have been resampled and interpolated, potentially introducing subtle but significant alterations that may affect the perception of the intended effects. This is especially critical for the color constancy demonstrations, where the objective neutrality of gray areas is paramount.
For instance, in the color constancy demonstrations focusing on complementary color pairs, the "constancied color" (the color perceived in a region objectively defined as grayscale RGB 127, 127, 127) can be altered by the color filtering inherent in JPEG compression. This can introduce unintended color casts into the nominally gray areas. While the general color constancy effect may still be discernible, the crucial demonstration of a color emerging solely from a region of objective gray due to contextual interpretation (scene, object, and light/material reflection) is compromised. A detailed explanation of this effect and its nuances is provided in the corresponding section.
The stereoscopic images presented in this study employ two techniques: true 3D rendering with depth information and dichoptic presentation of duplicated images to demonstrate the interaction of complementary colors with afterimages and color constancy. All stereoscopic images are designed for cross-eye viewing. While all images can be viewed using VR headsets with appropriate scaling and settings, certain effects and induced artifacts are best observed using the cross-eye technique. Specifically, the cross-eye method is essential for demonstrating the interaction of afterimages in stereoscopic vision, allowing for analytical observation of the residual images along the mixed percept. Similarly, the cross-eye technique is valuable for directly demonstrating the nuances of color conflict resolution and its interaction with other regions of the visual field. For cross-eye viewing, the left image is intended for the right eye, and vice versa.
All images adhere to standardized RGB values for the color attractors (see Table01 for specific values). Even with a perfectly calibrated display, minor individual variations in color perception are expected. These variations may arise from factors such as lens pigmentation, macular pigment density, cone sensitivity shifts, and individual perceptual and subjective differences. Consequently, some observers may perceive slight variations in the precise point of achromatic cancellation in stereoscopic mixing experiments, or subtle differences in afterimage and color constancy complementary mappings. Such individual differences are inherent in color perception research.
Cross-eye Technique Vision Instructions: The image should be displayed at a comfortable size and viewing distance, with the viewer's head held straight and horizontal. By slowly converging the eyes, a focal point where the images merge can be found. Initial attempts may require some time due to potential binocular rivalry. Once the images are fused, the eyes will relax, and the resulting "true" colors will be perceived.
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(Image.07) - Stereo vision demo. |
Stereoscopic Color Mixing and the Integration of Binocular Information
The integration of binocular information in stereoscopic vision raises important questions about the role of trichromacy and opponent processing at various stages of visual processing, from the initial encoding in the retina and early visual pathways (retinal and post-retinal opponency) to the formation of a unified perceptual experience. The fact that color information undergoes at least one further transformation during stereoscopic processing before reaching conscious awareness suggests that opponent mechanisms may operate at later stages of visual processing. This also highlights the binary nature of color opponency in achieving achromatization (the perception of gray or white).
While opponent processing is well-established in the retina and early visual areas of the brain, the phenomenon of stereoscopic color mixing suggests the possibility of a further stage of opponent processing specifically dedicated to integrating color information from the two eyes. This proposed "final" opponent process could be responsible for the observed cancellation of complementary colors when presented to the two eyes in a stereoscopic configuration. This hypothesis aligns with known mechanisms involved in binocular rivalry and stereoscopic depth perception, both of which require the integration and resolution of potentially conflicting signals from the two eyes. Further research is necessary to fully elucidate the neural basis of this proposed "final" opponent process.
The propagation of color information in the brain, originating from discrete photoreceptors and culminating in continuous image perception, necessitates interpolation of the discrete signals. This interpolation, evident in the filling-in of the blind spot and the perceived continuity of peripheral vision despite decreasing resolution, represents a point where the limits of qualia become apparent, merging with a lack of conscious experience. This interpolation may occur concurrently with or prior to stereoscopic color mixing, which exhibits complementary relationships resembling subtractive models.
This suggests that color mixing occurs prior to the formation of unified qualia but interacts with other phenomena, such as color constancy and afterimages, in complex ways, as will be discussed.
Binocular Rivalry and Resolution
Binocular rivalry occurs when two different images are presented to each eye. The brain is unable to fuse these disparate images into a single coherent percept, resulting in an alternating perception of the two images, with each image intermittently dominating conscious awareness.
This rivalry can be directly observed with colored stimuli. When viewing stereoscopically merged blue(0,0,255) and yellow(255,255,0) squares, for example, rivalry ensues. However, color alone does not fully account for this conflict. Introducing contextual cues, such as the outline of an object, facilitates fusion and resolves the rivalry. In the landscape example(Image.03), where one image is tinted blue and the other yellow, stereoscopic viewing successfully merges the images, and the colors are no longer perceived as conflicting, but rather mix, exposing the non-complementary nature of blue and yellow, mixing into green-cyan.
The presented image juxtaposes two modified copies of a landscape photograph. The left image is predominantly rendered in yellow (255, 255, 0), with some regions incorporating orange (255, 127, 0). The right image is predominantly rendered in blue (0, 0, 255), with some regions incorporating violet (127, 0, 255). Stereoscopic merging of these images results in a greenish percept where yellow and blue overlap, contradicting the complementary relationship posited by additive color models such as RGB. Instead, the orange regions are neutralized by the blue, and the violet regions by the yellow, resulting in a landscape dominated by green grasslands against achromatic rocks, mountains, and clouds.
The following image pair (Image.01-Conflict and Image.02-Resolution) is designed to isolate the influence of luminance variations on stereoscopic color mixing, specifically addressing the non-complementary mixing of RGB yellow (255, 255, 0) and blue (0, 0, 255). Previous examples, containing more complex luminance information, demonstrated that these colors combine to produce green, rather than the expected achromatic (gray) percept observed with true complementary pairs. This deviation from expected achromatic mixing can be attributed, at least in part, to the influence of varying luminance cues present in those images.
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Image-01-Conflict |
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Image-02-Resolution |
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Image-02b-Stereo Mix Result |
In Image.01-Conflict, the absence of visual cues prevents (in most subjects) binocular fusion, resulting in binocular rivalry – the alternating perception of the yellow and blue patches. However, in Image.02-Resolution, the addition of minimal outline details enables binocular fusion. Critically, despite fusion, the combined percept is green, not gray. This confirms that RGB yellow and blue do not behave as true complementary colors in stereoscopic mixing. Unlike true complementary pairs, such as RGB red (255, 0, 0) and cyan (0, 255, 255), which do achromatize (mix to gray) in stereoscopic vision, yellow(255,255,0) requires violet(255,0,127) for achromatic mixing, and blue(0,0,255) requires orange.(255,127,0)
This observed deviation from expected complementary mixing demonstrates a discrepancy between the standard RGB color space and the brain's internalized, neurally represented color space. The brain's internal color space appears to be organized around a more uniform distribution of color attractors and canonical complementaries, which do not perfectly align with the RGB primaries. The use of near-saturated and spectrally extreme stimuli (yellow and blue) highlights this divergence. The results suggest that luminance information plays a significant role in how the brain resolves color conflicts in stereoscopic vision, and that the brain's internal representation of color may be more consistent with a model of truly complementary opponent processes.
(It's important to note that monocular rivalry also exists, where the alternating perception occurs even when only one eye is stimulated with two different images presented in rapid succession. This further emphasizes the brain's role in resolving sensory conflict, which isn't inherent of stereo inputs)
The following stereoscopic images are designed to demonstrate two key aspects: (1) binocular complementaries, defined as those opposed in the logarithmic wheel mapping; and (2) color mixtures exhibiting subtractive-like characteristics. For clarity, these demonstrations focus on pairs of color attractors.
Visual Processing Hierarchy in Stereoscopic Vision
To investigate the precedence, order, and interactions of various visual processes and effects, several stereoscopic images were designed to elucidate the conditions necessary for a unified perceptual experience and to isolate specific perceptual conflicts. The goal was to create stereoscopic image pairs that fuse naturally while introducing controlled conflicts in specific visual attributes. The analysis of these experiments suggests a hierarchical organization of visual processing, where depth information derived from binocular disparity exerts a dominant influence, often resolving conflicts arising from color and luminance information.These findings also enable the creation of images where perceptual conflicts can be induced in otherwise harmonious stereoscopic image pairs.
Summary of Observations:
1. Scene Influence on Color Mixing:
- Image (a): Colored Background, Colored Ball: This image depicts a soccer ball positioned against a uniform background. The left eye's view has a blue (0, 0, 255) filter applied to the entire image, while the right eye's view has a yellow (255, 255, 0) filter. The soccer ball is rendered in orange (255, 127, 0) in the right eye's view. When these images are fused stereoscopically, the observer perceives a black and white (achromatic) soccer ball against a green background. The disparity information from the ball, combined with the luminance cues, facilitates stable binocular fusion. The disparate color information from the backgrounds is integrated through stereoscopic color mixing, resulting in the perception of green.
- Image (b): Colored Ball, Monochromatic Background: This image uses the same yellow and blue filters applied only to the soccer ball in each eye's view (yellow for the left eye, blue for the right). The background is rendered as monochromatic gray in both views. When these images are fused stereoscopically, the blue-yellow conflict present in the ball is not resolved into green. Despite the ball being the primary focus of attention and providing depth cues, the consistent achromatic information from the background and the matching depth information facilitate binocular fusion. The color mixing "instruction" is likely interpreted as "deliver the color information to qualia as is," preventing the typical blue-yellow mixing seen in other contexts. Depth information continues to dominate the perceptual strategy. To further highlight the binocular color conflict, small blue and yellow patches are introduced in the respective images, positioned so as not to overlap with the ball (top-right). These patches are perceived as floating, distinct colored regions within the 3D scene, demonstrating clear binocular rivalry. In contrast to Image (a), where the same color information was integrated into a unified green percept, these patches remain distinct due to the lack of a global color mixing instruction.
- Image (c): Color Inversions: This image pair explores the effects of inverting complementary color filters between the two eyes. The right eye's view features an orange background and a blue ball. The left eye's view inverts these filters, presenting a blue (0, 0, 255) background and an orange (255, 127, 0) ball. When these images are fused stereoscopically, the global color conflict created by the complementary backgrounds is resolved towards a near-achromatic (gray) percept, driven by the depth and luminance information. However, both the ball and the small colored patches (also using the same orange-blue color pair) exhibit pronounced binocular rivalry. This setup demonstrates that the color mixing strategy is determined globally. Despite using the same colors, the intended balance of the global mixing scheme influences the entire visual field. The right eye's view exerts a "push" towards blue, while the left eye's view exerts a "push" towards orange, resulting in the gray background. Crucially, this global influence extends to the local color information as well. The colors of the ball and patches are pushed along in the same direction as their respective backgrounds, amplifying their chromatic contrast and resulting in a more intense perceptual conflict. This amplification manifests as a "brighter" or more saturated rivalry. Close observation of the ball's edges reveals the conflicting colors "bleeding" into the nearby achromatic (gray) grass. This observation directly demonstrates that color interpolation is processed independently of the luminance channel, which retains sharp detail without interference from the color conflict.
Stereoscopic Color Mixing and the Subspace Mixing Strategy
The following images demonstrate a crucial aspect of stereoscopic color mixing: the concept of a subspace mixing strategy/instruction This refers to the phenomenon where, once the visual system identifies a region of hue interaction and determines a resolution for color conflict (using disparity or luminance information), it applies this resolution to the entire subspace. This occurs even if internal inconsistencies remain within the region and regardless of whether some colors are, in fact, identical. (This principle was previously illustrated in the soccer ball examples).
Critically, the hue shifts induced by stereoscopic mixing do not propagate outside each defined region.
Image.07 illustrates this principle. It uses red and cyan as stereoscopic complementaries, applied as filters to an image of a snake. Specific areas within the snake image are designed for additional color mixing demonstrations. When the image is successfully fused via cross-eye viewing, the snake is perceived primarily in grayscale with yellow/orange details. Simultaneously, the original red and cyan images are still visible at the periphery of the fused image. Importantly, the hue shifts necessary for achieving the achromatic (gray) state in the fused region do not extend beyond this region. The observer's perception of the surrounding environment (the room, the computer screen background) remains unaffected.
However, within the defined region of stereoscopic mixing, the mixing instruction does apply globally. Objects or details within the red or cyan filtered areas are "dragged" along by the forces that are uniting the parent colors into the achromatic state.
In this specific example, two additional color mixtures are observable:
Orange: Created by the combination of red areas in the red-filtered image and yellow details in the cyan-filtered image.
Yellow-Green: Created by the combination of orange areas in the red-filtered image and the cyan areas in the cyan-filtered image.
These resulting color mixtures are consistent with predictions based on the [...] and the principle of the subspace binocular mixing strategy. The sharp edges of the images within the computer screen window likely define the boundaries of the region to which the mixing instruction is applied. The brain may interpret this as viewing the scene through a window, effectively isolating the stereoscopic mixing effects to the defined area. This subspace is analyzed in depth later.
Out-of-Gamut Color Shifts in Stereoscopic Mixing
This image demonstrates how the subspace mixing strategy in stereoscopic vision can "drag" colors out of the standard color gamut. A stereoscopic image depicting a landscape with true depth information is employed. The right-eye image is filtered with yellow, containing some orange areas, while the left-eye image is filtered with blue-violet. When fused stereoscopically, the landscape is perceived with green trees and near-gray areas (while the rest of the observer's visual field remains unaffected).
Crucially, two red patches, identical in both the left- and right-eye views, are included in the image. These patches are slightly displaced vertically (as opposed to horizontally, which would be interpreted as a depth cue). This vertical displacement ensures that the patches are perceived as separate entities superimposed on the fused, near-gray background.
Upon stereoscopic fusion, these red patches undergo a dramatic transformation. One patch is perceived as a dark, purplish hue, while the other appears as a lighter, orange hue. Neither of these perceived colors corresponds to the original red of the patches. Furthermore, the overlapping regions of the patches create a highly saturated orange, often perceived as being out of gamut. This demonstrates how the mixing strategy can not only shift colors but also push them beyond the boundaries of typical color representation. (The question of the afterimage of this complex, out-of-gamut hue is explored in a later section.)
Color Constancy
This visual phenomenon, intimately linked to afterimages, refers to the brain's capacity to interpret the color of objects under varying illumination conditions. The traditional explanation is that the visual system adapts to changes in illumination and takes into account both illumination and material properties to discriminate colors.
As a consequence of color constancy, when an object is illuminated with light of its complementary color, it is perceived as achromatic (gray or white). Conversely, objectively achromatic objects are perceived as tinted with the complementary color of the illuminating light. This effect can be readily demonstrated on computer screens, further confirming the objective nature of gray and its susceptibility to perceptual adaptation.
As previously mentioned, familiarity plays a role in shaping these effects. Research has shown that color constancy is more pronounced when the shape and actual color of the object are known; in the absence of such prior knowledge, the perceived hue is less salient.
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(Image.08) The "orange" guitar. |
Another factor indicating the active participation of the brain in this effect is the difficulty in simply simulating it. For color constancy to occur, sufficient contextual cues must be present for the brain to interpret a scene, rather than merely an image. This is analogous to binocular rivalry, where contextual cues resolve perceptual conflict. For example, a pure blue image with a small gray square at its center is typically perceived as a blue background with a gray square; the color constancy effect is not elicited by simple color-gray contrast alone. However, a more realistic scene (Image.08) generates a vivid effect, even with a less saturated "simulated" blue light. The image depicts an "orange" classical guitar, which is objectively gray, with the rest of the scene rendered using a pure RGB blue filter (0, 0, 255).
Given the influence of familiarity on the strength of color constancy, the subsequent images employ Rubik's Cubes within a scene. Rubik's Cubes are commonly used in color constancy demonstrations because, while viewers may associate them with color, they do not typically associate them with a single, fixed color. This object provides sufficient cues to establish a "natural" scene and elicit the color constancy effect across various complementary color settings.
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(Image.10) |
Image Pair (image.cc-10-11) Demonstrating Color Constancy and the Role of Familiarity
The following image pair (image.cc-10-11) is designed to demonstrate several key aspects of color constancy, including the influence of object recognition and familiarity. While previous research has convincingly shown that color constancy can be enhanced by object recognition and memory, the primary goal of these images is to establish a baseline for subsequent demonstrations. Specifically, these images illustrate that carefully controlled illumination and filtering can produce perceptually compelling color experiences that are solely attributable to color constancy mechanisms, independent of object familiarity. In all these images, tiger's "colored fur" is objectively the same monochromatic ~RBG values.
Image cc-10 presents four copies of a tiger art pencil drawing, each at a different luminance level. This image demonstrates how the "constancied" orange hue remains relatively consistent across varying intensities of blue illumination. Critically, the regions perceived as orange in this image are objectively grayscale +-(RGB 127, 127, 127). While object familiarity (the knowledge that tigers typically have orange fur) might contribute to the perception of orange in this image, it is essential to establish that the effect can be achieved with objectively neutral gray areas.
Image cc-11 explores the limits of familiarity's influence. It presents four variations of the same scene, each with different illumination settings. In these variations, the tigers are perceived as orange, red, yellow, and green, respectively. Remarkably, the corresponding fur areas in each tiger image are also objectively grayscale (RGB 127, 127, 127). As traditionally explained, the perception of these diverse hues arises because the brain interprets the varying illumination as realistic, and color constancy mechanisms then generate the corresponding complementary colors. In essence, we "trust" our interpretation of the light source more than our prior knowledge that tigers are not typically green, yellow, or red. More concretely, the opponent processing cells likely respond to the blue light across the entire region, leading to the emergence of the complementary orange, red, magenta, yellow or green sensation within the grayscale areas.
Constancy and Stereoscopic Mixing
The color constancy effect can be predictably manipulated and mixed stereoscopically. This complex scenario is illustrated in images [cc09-10-11].
Two identical grayscale tiger images are used, each filtered with a different color: cyan for one and violet for the other. The cyan-filtered image elicits a reddish percept of the tiger due to color constancy mechanisms operating on the objectively gray areas. Conversely, the violet-filtered image elicits a yellowish percept. These induced colors are perceived as "normal" due to the brain's compensation for the filtering.
Upon binocular fusion (using the cross-eye technique), the background, now perceived as a subtle blue light, appears nearly achromatic (gray) compared to the saturated orange percept of the tiger. Remarkably, in this arrangement, where perceived colors are effectively "rebuilt" through constancy and stereoscopic vision, the only areas lacking direct monochromatic information in both eyes (the objectively gray areas) are the only areas exhibiting color after binocular fusion (the orange percept). A diagram [cc11] below the images illustrates this color mixing process.
Diagram [cc11] Labels:
M = Monocular: Indicates information presented to a single eye.
B = Binocular: Indicates information resulting from binocular fusion.
L = Left: Refers to information presented to the left eye.
R = Right: Refers to information presented to the right eye.
SDCI = Subspace Dominant Chromatic Information: Represents the chromatic information presented to each eye before constancy effects.
CDCI = Constancy Driven Chromatic Information: Represents the chromatic information resulting from the color constancy mechanism (the "constancied" colors).
The strength of the color constancy effect in this demonstration is notable. All tiger images are objectively grayscale. The first image [cc09] is designed for cross-eye viewing, and image [cc10] illustrates the resulting percept. The subtle saturation difference in the blue background is sufficient to elicit a strong orange percept in the tiger, demonstrating the robustness of color constancy.
The CDCI (Constancy Driven Chromatic Information) determined for each SDCI (Subspace Dominant Chromatic Information) can be mixed stereoscopically, validating its function as genuine chromatic information that influences perception.
The binocular chromatic fusion strategy is determined for each SDCI. The visual field can contain multiple SDCI(object detection of stereoscopic images on the screen). When fusing images using the cross-eye technique, colors mix predictably, while the surrounding visual field (level 0) remains unaffected. Each object's size and salience influence the fusion strategy within its respective SDCI. This means that nested images inherit, rather than create, their fusion strategies from their superspace. Consequently, while multiple simultaneous stereo images can be mixed independently, color conflicts within nested images are not resolved independently and are "dragged" by the fusion strategy of their superspace. Even with identical images that don't inherently require "mixing," color conflicts can still occur, as demonstrated in subsequent examples.
Image Series (image.cc-[12-19]): Color Constancy Demonstrations with an Electric Guitar
This series of eight images utilizes an electric guitar to demonstrate color constancy under varying color attractor illumination settings. These demonstrations highlight the complementary relationships between illumination and perceived color, as well as the varying salience of different "constancied" hues. The images also illustrate how the perception of these hues, derived from objectively grayscale regions, can be influenced by the surrounding color context.
The images were carefully adjusted to equalize the average salience of the perceived colors. It is observed that some hues are more readily elucidated (perceived as saturated) than others. For example, "constancied" cyan is typically perceived as more salient than "constancied" red. This difference in salience mirrors the ranking of afterimage hues, where red afterimages are often the least vivid. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is the larger size of the neural "blobs" representing red in V1 compared to other canonical hues. If afterimage and color constancy are active, feedback-driven processes involving V4 and subsequent visual areas looping back to V1, the weaker signal reaching the initial loop stage for red (due to the larger V1 blob size) might explain its lower salience. However, it is likely that multiple factors contribute to this difference. It is important to note that afterimages produced with natural pigments and daylight exhibit higher saturation for red, suggesting that the lower saturation observed with RGB displays might be a limitation of the display technology or the additive color mixing process.
Each guitar image features two grayscale areas, one slightly darker than the other, with RGB values near (100, 100, 100) and (150, 150, 150), respectively. These areas contain subtle variations in gray details and shadows. The rest of the guitar is "illuminated" with different colored lights, inducing the perception of the corresponding "constancied" color within the grayscale regions.
Adjacent to the guitar is a circular arrangement of eight guitar picks, each representing a canonical color attractor: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet, and magenta. These picks serve two purposes. First, they demonstrate the interaction of the colored illumination with other hues beyond the grayscale areas. Second, and more importantly, one of the picks in the arrangement is also gray, matching the grayscale areas on the guitar. This gray pick, along with the spectrally ordered arrangement of the other picks, resolves potential ambiguities in hue perception.
For example, an isolated guitar under blue (0, 0, 255) illumination might be perceived as either orange or yellow. However, the presence of the gray pick and the surrounding picks (yellow and red) clarifies that the guitar's "constancied" hue falls between yellow and red, confirming it as orange. Similarly, a guitar under yellow light might be reported as either violet or blue; the presence of the gray pick and the surrounding picks (blue and magenta) helps the observer correctly categorize the "constancied" hue as violet/purple. Constructing these images is analogous to performing a spectral ordering task with "imaginary" hues, a conceptually challenging but revealing process.
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