Hue, Saturation, and Brightness: Cortical Emergence and Modeling of Color Percepts

什么样的神经过程使人类能够感知和体验不同的颜色？人类色觉的运作一直是人类视觉科学研究中最广泛的研究课题之一，但其神经基础仍然难以捉摸。该项目旨在研究一种新的理论，可以帮助解释不同颜色的感知如何从神经活动中产生。理解颜色感知的机制对于设计成功的人工视觉系统和视觉显示器以及理解视觉问题的基础是很重要的。尽管颜色视觉的许多方面已经很好地理解，但试图找到颜色感知的各个组成部分的特定神经元水平的相关性却失败了。具体来说，心理物理学研究表明，对颜色的感知有三个方面：1）色调，2）颜色纯度（“饱和”颜色和柔和颜色之间的差异），以及3）亮度，研究人员一直认为这些属性来自相对早期的神经处理，在专门对视觉刺激的这些属性做出反应的神经元水平上。然而，现有的研究未能找到一致的证据表明特定的神经元专门对颜色感受器的这些特性做出反应。在这个项目中，将研究一个新的理论，可以帮助解释颜色感知的三个属性是如何从神经活动中出现的。该项目正在研究的新理论是，颜色感知的特性（色调，纯度和亮度）来自神经元网络之间的复杂相互作用，在某些情况下涉及竞争，在其他情况下涉及合作。通过这种方式，三种颜色的感知特性是复杂神经活动的涌现特性，而不是在专门神经元的水平上表现出来的。在该项目中，研究人员将对所提出的复杂神经相互作用进行复杂的计算建模，以解释文献中现有的数据模式。

What neural processes allow humans to perceive and experience different colors? The operation of human color vision has been among the most extensively investigated topics in the scientific study of human visual perception, yet its neural basis remains elusive. This project aims to investigate a new theory that could help to explain how the perception of different colors emerges from neural activity. Understanding the mechanisms of color perception is important to designing successful artificial vision systems and visual displays, as well as to understanding the basis of visual problems.Though many aspects of color vision are well-understood, attempts to find specific neuronal-level correlates of the various components of a color percept have failed. Specifically, psychophysics research has shown that there are three aspects to the perception of a color: 1) hue, 2) color purity (the difference between a "saturated" color and a pastel one), and 3) brightness, and researchers have long assumed that these properties result from relatively early-stage neural processing, at the level of neurons that specialize in reacting to these properties of a visual stimulus. However, existing research has failed to find consistent evidence that specific neurons specialize in reacting to these properties of a color percept. In this project, a new theory will be investigated that could help to explain how the three properties of color percepts emerge from neural activity. The new theory under investigation in this project is that the properties of color perception (hue, purity, and brightness) emerge from complex interactions among networks of neurons, involving competition in some cases and cooperation in others. In this way, the three color percept properties are emergent properties of complex neural activity, rather than being represented at the level of specialized neurons. In the project, the investigator will carry out sophisticated computational modeling of the proposed complex neural interactions in an effort to explain existing data patterns in the literature.