Light & Engineering 33 (2) 2025

Volume 33
Date of publication 04/17/2025
Pages 4–17

Human Colour Perception Mechanisms: A Review of Natural Science Concepts and Artistic Models from Ancient Chromatism to Neuroiconics and Holography. Part 1: Historical Retrospective of Hypotheses and Experiments L&E, Vol.33, No.2, 2025

Articles authors:

Sergey K. Stafeev, Daniil D. Sharov

Sergey K. Stafeev, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor. Graduate of the Leningrad Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics. Professor at the Institute of Cognitive Studies, St. Petersburg State University, and at the Physics and Technology Faculty of ITMO University. Awarded the Order “For Services to the Fatherland” (2nd class) and the “300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg” medal. Laureate of the Russian Government Award in Education, Laureate of the St. Petersburg Government Award. Author of over 250 scientific works, five monographs, four online courses, dozens of educational guides and inventions. His research interests are semiconductor optics, image processing, computer technologies in education, artistic holography, history of optics, neuroiconics

Daniil D. Sharov, Physics Teacher. Graduate of the ITMO University Master’s program in “Science Communication” in 2019. Junior Researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Studies, St. Petersburg State University. Since 2017, he has supervised various scientific exhibitions, such as the Optics Museum (St. Petersburg), “Magic of Light” (Shanghai), “Prism of Time” (Moscow), and “Svetoscope” (Kronstadt). His research interests are holography with photopolymer materials, cognitive studies using eye-tracking and EEG methods, augmented reality, decision-making in social systems

Abstract:

The review focuses on the evolution of views on the mechanisms of human colour perception in context of a gradual study of the spectral characteristics of light, the physiology and psychology of the visual mechanism, and the decoding of the functional features of retinal sensors and other neural groups throughout the visual pathway. The first part of the review presents historical information on the various stages of the development of views on the nature of colour vision not only from the perspective of natural science hypotheses provided by scientists, but also regarding the subjective opinions of representatives from the arts-artists and poets. The review briefly outlines concepts of ancient chromatism and medieval metaphysics of colour and continues with the first rational theories of colour perception, providing more detailed discussions on the views of Isaac Newton and Mikhail Lomonosov, Johann Goethe and John Turner, Gaspard Monge and Hermann von Helmholtz, Arthur Schopenhauer and Erwin Schrödinger, James Maxwell, and Ewald Hering.
The second and third parts of the review will sequentially examine the progress in understanding the operation of colour-coding neurons, their receptive fields, colour discrimination thresholds, and other aspects in relation to such effects as colour constancy, the relationship between the form of objects and their perceived colour, and various colour illusions. Recent intriguing results, obtained using molecular genetic methods, shed new light on the evolutionary transformations of colour vision in animals and humans. The review will show an impact of the major studies of deviations in colour perception on practically significant lighting solutions, discussion of the individualities of colour perception in virtual and augmented reality systems, as well as in context of various holographic technologies. Furthermore, the matter of museum lighting optimization and the production of specialized LED devices will be considered. Finally, the review presents the link between the latest achievements in the field of psychophysiology of colour perception and the spectral characteristics of light sources familiar to specialists in colourimetry and lighting technology.

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Keywords

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33383/2024-055

Article in RUS:
Svetotekhnika # 1, 2025, pp. 4–14

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