Deck 5: The Perception of Color

Question 1

Which of the following lists the steps in color perception in the correct order?

A) Detection, appearance, discrimination
B) Appearance, detection, discrimination
C) Detection, discrimination, appearance
D) Appearance, discrimination, detection
E) Discrimination, detection, appearance

Answer 1

Detection, discrimination, appearance

Question 2

Which photoreceptors do not contribute to color vision?

A) S-cones
B) M-cones
C) L-cones
D) Rods
E) All of these photoreceptors contribute to color vision.

Answer 2

Rods

Question 3

Which photoreceptors are most active when looking at a beautiful sunset?

A) S-cones
B) M-cones
C) L-cones
D) Rods
E) S-cones and rods

Answer 3

L-cones

Question 4

Which photoreceptors are most active when looking at a blue sky?

A) S-cones
B) M-cones
C) L-cones
D) M- and L-cones
E) Rods

Question 5

Which photoreceptors are most active when looking at a green forest?

A) S-cones
B) M-cones
C) L-cones
D) Rods
E) All cones would be equally active.

Question 6

Which color pair is farthest apart in wavelength?

A) Green and red
B) Blue and red
C) Blue and yellow
D) Green and purple
E) Blue and purple

Question 7

What type of lighting conditions occurs during the daytime in full sunlight?

A) Photopic
B) Mesopic
C) Biopic
D) Monopic
E) Scotopic

Question 8

Refer to the image.
What kind of lighting condition is depicted in the image?

A) Photopic
B) Mesopic
C) Biopic
D) Monopic
E) Scotopic

Question 9

Refer to the image.
The moonlit world depicted in the image appears to be drained of color because

A) we can only use two types of rod photoreceptors under these conditions.
B) in photopic conditions, only our rods are active.
C) in scotopic conditions, only our rods are active.
D) in photopic conditions, only our cones are active.
E) in scotopic conditions, only our S-cones are active.

Question 10

The principle of univariance refers to the fact that

A) we have three types of cones in our visual system.
B) an infinite set of different wavelength-intensity combinations can elicit the same response from a single type of photoreceptor.
C) an infinite set of different wavelength-intensity combinations can elicit the same response from three different types of photoreceptors that are compared to each other.
D) many shades of colors appear the same under certain lighting conditions.
E) an infinite set of cones can record the same response from a single wavelength.

Question 11

According to the principle of univariance, which genetic difference in color vision would cause someone to be truly color-blind?

A) Deuteranope
B) Protanope
C) Tritanope
D) Color-anomalous
E) Cone monochromat

Question 12

_______ are different mixtures of wavelengths that look identical.

A) Subtractive light mixtures
B) Additive light mixtures
C) Hues
D) Metamers
E) Illuminants

Question 13

According to the _______ theory, the color of any light is defined in our visual system by the relationships among three numbers of a set.

A) univariance
B) saturation
C) trichromacy
D) opponent color
E) subtractive color mixing

Question 14

Refer to the figure.
Which scientist developed the color-matching technique depicted in the figure?

A) Helmholtz
B) Young
C) Maxwell
D) Smith
E) Newton

Question 15

How many lights (of the correct type) are required to match any color that humans can see?

A) One
B) Two
C) Three
D) Four
E) Five

Question 16

RGB televisions and computer monitors have red, green, and blue pixels. Why don't they have yellow pixels?

A) Red + blue is a metamer for yellow.
B) Green + blue is a metamer for yellow.
C) Red + green is a metamer for yellow.
D) Red + green + blue is a metamer for yellow.
E) Red + green + blue pixels stimulate the rods, which perceive yellow.

Question 17

Mixing paints to create new colors is an example of _______ color mixing, while shining lights to create new colors is an example of _______ color mixing.

A) additive; subtractive
B) subtractive; additive
C) additive; component
D) multiple; opponent
E) opponent; multiple

Question 18

When adding colors, blue and yellow create white through _______ color mixing and create green through _______ color mixing.

A) additive; subtractive
B) subtractive; additive
C) additive; component
D) multiple; opponent
E) opponent; multiple

Question 19

What kind of cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) compute chromatic differences, such as (L-M) and (M-L)?

A) Amacrine cells
B) Bipolar cells
C) Cone-opponent cells
D) Rod-opponent cells
E) Stereo cells

Question 20

How many dimensions does color space consist of?

A) One
B) Two
C) Three
D) Four
E) Five

Question 21

Which of the following values (ranging from 0 to 255) in RGB color space would represent the color white?

A) R:255, G:0, B:0
B) R:0, G:255, B:0
C) R:0, G:0, B:000
D) R:255, G:255, B:255
E) R:0, G:0, B:0

Question 22

In HSB (hue, saturation, brightness) color space, how does red differ from pink?

A) Red has more hue than pink.
B) Red has more saturation than pink.
C) Red has more brightness than pink.
D) Pink has more hue than red.
E) Pink has more saturation than red.

Question 23

According to the opponent color theory, the perception of color is based on the output of _______ cones, each of them an opponency between _______ colors.

A) two; two
B) three; two
C) three; three
D) four; two
E) four; three

Question 24

Which of the following correctly lists the color-opponent pairs coded by the visual system?

A) Blue versus red; yellow versus green; black versus white
B) Blue versus white; yellow versus green; black versus red
C) Blue versus green; red versus yellow; black versus white
D) Blue versus yellow; red versus green; black versus white
E) Blue versus yellow; red versus green; gray versus white

Question 25

Which color is "illegal" for our visual systems?

A) Bluish green
B) Reddish yellow
C) Yellowish green
D) Reddish blue
E) Greenish red

Question 26

Which of the following is not a unique hue?

A) Red
B) Blue
C) Green
D) Yellow
E) Magenta

Question 27

A unique blue is a blue that has no _______ or green tint.

A) yellow
B) red
C) purple
D) orange
E) cyan

Question 28

In the hue cancellation experiments described in the textbook, if the starting color were too reddish, you would add

A) yellow.
B) blue.
C) green.
D) purple.
E) orange.

Question 29

Suppose you are the lighting director for a theater production. The current spotlight on the stage is too blue and you want to make it whiter. What colored spotlight would you shine on the same area to cancel out the blue?

A) Yellow
B) Blue
C) Green
D) Purple
E) Orange

Question 30

_______ is the inability to perceive colors due to damage to the central nervous system.

A) Achromatopsia
B) Deuteranopia
C) Agnosia
D) Anomia
E) Akinisthesia

Question 31

Which of the following is not a basic color term?

A) Red
B) Green
C) Blue
D) Light blue
E) Brown

Question 32

Suppose a new, previously isolated culture is discovered and their language only has four color words. Which color is least likely to be one of the color terms in that language?

A) Black
B) Tan
C) Red
D) Yellow
E) White

Question 33

_______ is the idea that basic perceptual experiences may be determined in part by the cultural environment.

A) Cultural determination
B) Culturalism
C) Cultural perceptualism
D) Cultural relativism
E) Chromatic adaptation

Question 34

A(n) _______ is an individual who suffers from color blindness that is due to the absence of M-cones.

A) deuteranope
B) protanope
C) tritanope
D) isotope
E) color-anomalous individual

Question 35

A(n) _______ is an individual who suffers from color blindness that is due to the absence of L-cones.

A) deuteranope
B) protanope
C) tritanope
D) isotope
E) color-anomalous individual

Question 36

A(n) _______ is an individual who suffers from color blindness that is due to the absence of S-cones.

A) deuteranope
B) protanope
C) tritanope
D) isotope
E) color-anomalous individual

Question 37

Which genetic difference in color vision would cause someone to see the most color metamers when doing a color-matching experiment?

A) Deuteranopia
B) Protanopia
C) Tritanopia
D) Color-anomaly
E) Rod monochromatism

Question 38

If a video game labels friendly characters as green and enemy characters as red, who might have a hard time seeing the difference between friendly and enemy characters?

A) A deuteranope
B) A protonope
C) A tritanope
D) Both deuteranopes and protonopes
E) Both deuteranopes and tritanopes

Question 39

_______ describes an individual with no cones of any type.

A) A cone monochromat
B) Cone-anomalous
C) A protanope
D) A rod monochromat
E) A deuteranope

Question 40

What is the term for an inability to name objects or colors despite being able to see and recognize them?

A) Agnosia
B) Prosopagnosia
C) Achromatopsia
D) Anomia
E) Akinetopsia

Question 41

Which term describes the experience of seeing colors when hearing music or perceiving a letter as having a color, even if it is printed in black ink?

A) Achromatopsia
B) Synesthesia
C) Deuteranopia
D) Protanopia
E) Tritanopia

Question 42

_______ is a color perception effect in which the color of one region induces the opponent color in a neighboring region.

A) Afterimage
B) Achromatopsia
C) Color contrast
D) Color assimilation
E) Color constancy

Question 43

Suppose you have a red surface and want it to seem as red as possible. What sort of background should you put behind it, according to the color contrast effect?

A) Red
B) Green
C) Blue
D) Yellow
E) Orange

Question 44

_______ is a color perception effect in which two colors bleed into each other, each taking on some of the chromatic quality of the other.

A) Afterimage
B) Achromatopsia
C) Color contrast
D) Color assimilation
E) Color constancy

Question 45

Which of the following is a related color?

A) Orange
B) Purple
C) Blue
D) Green
E) Brown

Question 46

A(n) _______ is a visual image seen after the stimulus has been removed.

A) adapting stimulus
B) afterimage
C) neutral point
D) metamer
E) hallucination

Question 47

Suppose you are shown a red circle for a moment, and then shown two color choices and asked which of these colors you saw before. Which color pairing would present the most difficult choice?

A) Red versus yellow
B) Red versus green
C) Red versus maroon
D) Red versus blue
E) Red versus orange

Question 48

In the case of a negative afterimage, a yellow stimulus would produce a _______ afterimage.

A) blue
B) green
C) red
D) brown
E) black

Question 49

Refer to the figure.
If you stare at the right-hand image of the figure for 20 seconds, and then look at the left-hand image, which colors do the top three circles appear to be, from left to right (i.e., 11, 12, and 1 o'clock positions)?

A) Blue, green, yellow
B) Red, blue, orange
C) Red, green, yellow
D) Yellow, green, red
E) Purple, green, orange

Question 50

The tendency of a surface to appear the same color under a fairly wide range of illuminations is known as

A) color invariance.
B) color constancy.
C) color anomaly.
D) reflectance.
E) illuminance.

Question 51

What is the function relating the wavelength of light to the percentage of that wavelength that is reflected from the surface?

A) Spectral power distribution
B) Spectral illuminant
C) Spectral reflectance function
D) Color absorption function
E) Wavelength absorption function

Question 52

What is the term for the light that shines onto a surface?

A) Light
B) Reflectant
C) Source
D) Spectrant
E) Illuminant

Question 53

Which of the following is an argument from the textbook about the usefulness of color vision?

A) It helps animals during migration.
B) It helps animals identify predators and avoid them.
C) It aids in night vision.
D) It improves peripheral vision.
E) It helps animals find food and mates.

Question 54

Some animals achieve color vision not with different photopigments, but rather with

A) multi-colored lenses.
B) drops of colored oil over their photoreceptors.
C) specially evolved aqueous humor that filters ultraviolet light.
D) extra-sensory perception.
E) pigmented corneas that filter different wavelengths of light.

Question 55

When white wine is tinted to have a rosé color, what flavors do people report that are different than what they report with normal white wine?

A) More red fruit and less white fruit flavor
B) More white fruit and less red fruit flavor
C) More citrus flavor
D) More bitter green flavor
E) Less sweetness

Question 56

Name the three steps in color perception as discussed in the textbook, and briefly describe each one.

Question 57

What is the difference between additive and subtractive color mixing?

Question 58

What is a unique hue?

Question 59

What is an afterimage and what does it reveal about how color perception works?

Question 60

What is the principle of univariance and what are the implications of the principle for color perception?

Question 61

What are the similarities and differences between the trichromatic and opponent color theories of color perception?

Question 62

What is color constancy, and how does the visual system achieve it?