3rd lesson - Perception Theory

PERCEPTION THEORY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF FORM

Ay 2025/2026

Prof. MARTA CALBI
IED

NEWTON AND THE PRISM (1666)

  • Isaac Newton (1643-1727) conducted experiments with prisms.

    • Key Experiment: Passed a ray of sunlight through a glass prism.

    • Result: White light split into a visible spectrum comprising red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

    • Conclusion: Colors are inherent in white light, not produced by the prism.

    • Procedure: Passed one color (e.g., red) through a second prism — it remained unchanged.

TRICHROMATIC THEORY OF COLOR

Historical Background

  • Thomas Young (1773–1829) and Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) developed the Trichromatic Theory in the 19th Century.

    • Physiology of the Eye: Human retina has three types of cone cells, sensitive to red, green, and blue light.

James Clerk Maxwell’s Experiment (1861)

  • Sought to understand how the brain perceives colors based on cone response.

    • Experiment Design: Utilized three projectors with red, green, and blue filters.

    • Projected beams onto a white screen to overlap.

    • Adjusted intensity to reproduce any visible color.

    • Result: Birth of additive color synthesis.

      • Demonstrated that perceived colors can be recreated through a mix of red, green, and blue light.

    • Showed that the eye perceives combinations of the three primary cone responses rather than individual wavelengths.

Introduction to Colorimetry

  • Defined as the science that deals with the quantification of color.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PIGMENTS

  • Objects differ in light reflection due to various pigments.

    • Pigments: Chemicals that absorb specific wavelengths.

    • Example: A pigment reflecting long wavelengths appears red; absorbs shorter wavelengths.

    • Analysis of light reflection according to pigment properties:

      • A pigment allowing short wavelengths appears violet/blue.

ADDITIVE VS. SUBTRACTIVE COLOR COMBINATIONS

Subtractive Color Combination

  • Mechanism: Mixing pigments (subtracting light).

    • Example: Blue pigment absorbs long wavelengths; Yellow pigment absorbs short wavelengths.

    • Result: Intermediate wavelengths reflected → Appears green.

Additive Color Combination

  • Occurs with colored lights combining instead of pigments.

    • Law of Three Primary Colors:

    • Three primary lights (red, green, blue) can mix in varying proportions to reproduce any visible color.

    • Law of Complementary Colors: Specific combinations of lights yield white.

TRICHROMATIC THEORY VS OPPONENT-PROCESS THEORY

Opponent-Process Theory

  • Developed by Ewald Hering to explain visual phenomena beyond Trichromatic Theory.

    • Visual processing in opposing color pairs:

    • Pairs: Red-Green, Blue-Yellow, White-Black.

    • Each color's activation inhibits the other color in the pair.

    • Notably, one cannot see “reddish-green” or “yellowish-blue” simultaneously.

Integration of Theories

  • Trichromatic Theory: Explains color detection by cones.

  • Opponent-Process Theory: Discusses brain's interpretation of color signals.

    • Together, these theories form a comprehensive understanding of color perception.

THE APPEARANCE OF COLORS

Perception Capacity

  • Humans can perceive up to 2 million different colors (Pointer & Attridge, 1998; Linhares et al., 2008).

  • Ignoring lightness allows differentiation of approximately 26,000 hues (Foster et al., 2011).

Color Description Mechanism

  1. By Wavelength: Each color corresponds to a specific wavelength within the visible spectrum.

  2. Three-Dimensional Color Space: Based on three cone types (red, green, blue).

  3. Color Models: Systems like RGB, HSB/HSV, and CMYK for consistency across different mediums (digital, print, or light-based).

COLOR MODELS

Additive and Subtractive Color Models

RGB Model

  • Colors: Red, Green, Blue (used for additive color mixing).

CMYK Model

  • Colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (Black) (used for subtractive color mixing).

COLOR DIMENSIONS AND PICKERS

Key Color Dimensions

  • Hue: Type of color (name recognized, e.g. red, blue).

  • Brightness (Lightness): How light or dark a color seems.

  • Saturation: Purity/intensity of color, or the degree of gray mixed in.

    • Highly saturated colors are vivid; desaturated appear dull.

Color Pickers

  • Tools enabling color selection and adjustment across Hue, Saturation, Brightness dimensions.

    • Used in fashion, digital design, and photography for cohesive color palettes.

COLORS, LANGUAGE, AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Color Classification Research

  • Studies span over 150 years analyzing how humans classify colors and the linguistic implications.

  • Cultural Diversity: Variability in the number and types of color terms across languages.

    • Some languages utilize only two or three basic color terms, while languages like English have many.

  • Berlin and Kay (1969) Findings: Despite differences in color naming across cultures, shared patterns exist, suggesting some universal perceptual principles.

World Color Survey (WCS)

  • Major project gathering data from over 2,600 participants speaking 110 languages (many unwritten).

Key Findings from WCS

  • Color term usage varies among language groups.

  • Certain spectrum areas are consistently named across languages, much like the basic color categories in English:

    • Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange, Brown, Black, White.

  • Suggests shared perceptual anchors in human vision leading to similar color categorization across cultures.

CONTEXTUAL COLOR PERCEPTION

Colors in Relation to Others

  • Perception Context: Color seen depends on surrounding colors.

    • Chromatic Contrast: One area's color can influence adjacent color perception.

    • Example: A neutral gray looks greenish against red and bluish against orange.

    • Chromatic Assimilation (Bezold Effect): Adjacent colors blend visually, altering the perception of each other.

Absolute vs. Relative Colors

  • Absolute Colors: Pure, identifiable colors that stand alone.

  • Relative Colors: Appearance alters based on neighboring colors (concept known as simultaneous color contrast).

    • Example: A gray square appearing greenish beside a red square, reddish beside a green square.

Negative Afterimages

  • Linked to Opponent-Process Theory.

  • Occurs when photoreceptors adapt to dominant colors and create a lasting residual image in complementary colors.

    • Main Features: Colors are inverted (e.g., red → green, blue → yellow); effects are temporary, lasting only seconds.

SYNESTHESIA

Definition and Types

  • Synesthesia: Neurological phenomenon where one sensory stimulation triggers another sensory experience.

  • Grapheme-Color Synesthesia: Characters (letters/numbers) perceived as specific colors.

    • Example: The letter “A” might always appear red; the number “7” may seem green.

Emotion Associations with Colors

  • Different colors evoke emotional states across cultures:

    • Red → Anger, excitement, passion

    • Green → Peace, calm, balance

    • Yellow → Happiness, optimism

    • Blue → Serenity, trust

    • Black/Grey → Sadness, melancholy

EMOTIONAL IMPACT OF COLOR

Psychological Interpretations

  • Color influences emotions, perception, and social interaction:

    • Warm Colors (Red, Orange, Yellow): Convey energy, passion, and action.

    • Cool Colors (Blue, Green, Violet): Imply calm and harmony.

    • Neutral Colors (White, Gray, Black): Represent sophistication and balance.

Mechanisms of Color Emotion

  • Blend of biological reactions (arousal, heart rate) and cultural associations. Color meanings are contextual and vary over cultures, historical contexts, and societal groups.

COLOR IN BRANDING AND FASHION

Importance of Colors in Branding

  • Crucial for brand identity and emotional storytelling.

    • Functions as a non-verbal language, projecting values and mood quickly.

Notable Brand Colors

  • Valentino Red: Power and seduction.

  • Tiffany Blue: Exclusivity and serenity.

  • Bottega Veneta Green: Boldness and modernity.

  • Jil Sander Neutrals: Minimalism, intellectual coolness.

Chromatic Signatures

  • Unique color combinations become part of a brand’s identity, akin to logos and typefaces.

COLOR, IDENTITY, AND EXPRESSION

Personal Styling and Color

  • Color as a medium for self-expression and identity.

    • Wearing colors can influence perception and social behavior (e.g., red for confidence, blue for trustworthiness).

Personal Reflection Question

  • "When you choose what to wear, are you expressing who you are or who you want to be perceived as?"

ACTIVITY: COLOR & EMOTION MAPPING

Step 1: Emotional Color Mapping

  • Students receive a list of 8 emotions (joy, anger, sadness, etc.) to associate with specific colors/palettes, justified in a single sentence.

Step 2: Symbolic Moodboard

  • Choose an emotion to create a symbolic moodboard:

    • Include 5-7 images (fashion, artworks, nature, etc.).

    • Dominant color palette (3-5 hues).

    • 3-4 words describing mood or identity.

    • 1 statement connecting color choice to emotion/culture/fashion.