The Opponent Process Theory of Color Vision

The Opponent Process Theory of Color Vision
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What is the Opponent Process Theory of Color Vision?
The Opponent Process Theory is one of the theories that have aided in the development of the current understanding of sight. The hypothesis was initially suggested by a German analyst, Ewald Hering, in 1892, who realized that particular color mixtures have never been perceived such as, bluish-yellow and reddish-green. For this reason, he suggested the opponent-process theory, which proposes that human beings see color on the grounds of opposing endings of the receptors: red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black, with current research suggesting that the proper pairings for these receptors supposedly being; blue-yellow, red-cyan, and green-magenta (DeLecce, 2021).


Figure 1.0 Opponent Colors
Light wavelengths overlap to form three cones categories: L, M, and S for Long, Medium, and Short waves, respectively. These wave lights respond to make the human visual structure more efficient in recording the differences betwixt the cones' responses instead of each form of cone feedback individually. The hypothesis proposes that the human visual structure translates color data by acting on indicators from rod and cone cells in an opposing way. Following the theory, the human mind can just inscribe the existence of one color of each set at a time since the colors are antagonizing each other (Cherry and Swaim, 2021). The primary idea of the theory is that cells in the human visual structure are stimulated by one antagonistic color and obstructed by the other one. For instance, when people look at a green color for a few seconds and view a white area, they will discern a red color and vice versa when they stare at the red color; the same applies to blue and yellow colors.


Figure 2.0 The figure above indicates different sensitivities for the three categories of cones for a normal sighted human being.
Apart from the cones detecting the light getting in the human eye, the biological foundation of the hypothesis entails two more forms of cells; ganglion and bipolar. Data from the cones enter the bipolar cells inside the retina, which are the cells in the procedure of transforming the data from the cones. The data then enters the ganglion cells, where there are two main classifications magnocellular and (M cells) parvocellular (P cells). The P cells maneuver most of the color information and are categorized into two; one processing informational data regarding distinctions between launching L and M cones, and the other processing distinctions betwixt S cones and a mixed indicator from L and M cones. The initial subcategory of cells processes red-green distinctions, during the second subcategory procedure blue-yellow distinctions. Parvocellular cells also transfer data regarding light potency because of their receptive areas.


Figure 4.0 The color-opposing cells inside the retina and lateral geniculate nucleus and RFs of ganglion cells sensitive to results of cones.
Opponent Process of Color Theory and Color Blindness
The theory explains the phenomena of color blindness, a vision deficiency in which individuals cannot see color differences under normal lighting conditions. The deficiency is caused by any defect in the colors red, blue, and green cones of the human eye. There are three forms of color blindness; anomalous trichromacy, which results from the misaligned or faulty cone with reduced sensitivity to green and red colors; dichromacy resulting from the absence of cone type with reduced sensitivity to red, green, and blue colors; and monochromacy which is the inability to perceive any color but different shades of gray (Blake, 2016).
How the Opponent Color Process Works
Cherry (2021) contends that the process operates through a method of inhibitory (negative) and excitatory (positive) responses, comprising of two elements of each mechanism antagonizing each other. For instance, red generates an excitatory response in a cell, while green generates an inhibitory response. When such a cell is activated, it communicates that the person sees red in the brain. Concurrently, an opposing cell gets excitatory feedback to green color wavelengths of light and a negative response to red color. To put it another way, these two categories of cells in the red-green receptor composite cannot be actuated simultaneously.


Figure 3.0 The Opponent Process
Two inferences are derived from this color theory; human beings do not experience yellowish-blues and greenish-reds as colors, and human beings experience negative after images. Afterimage refers to when a visual commotion continues after the stimulus is removed (when we continue seeing the same image after it has vanished). For instance, when one looks at the sun briefly and then looks away from it, one can still see the patch of light despite the removal of the stimulant (the sun). When color is entailed in the stimulant, the color pairing recognized in the hypothesis results in a negative afterimage (Lumen, 2021).


Figure 4.0 From this picture, when one stares at the white dot at the centre for a short while and move their eyes to a white top, an afterimage of the flag in red, white, and blue colors should be seen; making it look like the actual American flag (DeLecce, 2021). For this reason, this is negative after image, and it gives experiential advocacy for the opponent-process hypothesis.
History of the Opponent-Process Theory of Color Vision
According to Legg (2018), in 1810, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe initially researched the cognitive impact of opposing colors in his Theory of Colors. He symmetrically positioned his color wheel for the colors directly opposite to each other, where they reciprocally evoked each other in the human eye. Therefore, yellow demanded green, red, blue, orange, purple, and vice versa. In 1892, Ewald Hering suggested the opponent color theory as he saw the opponent colors were unique, existing in opposite pairs, and that other colors could be described as their mixture. In 1957, Dorothea Jameson and Leo Hurvich delivered qualitative data for Hering's Theory, cal...