Fechner's colours

Fechner's colours
   Also known as subjective colours, illusory colours, and flicker colours. The eponym Fechner's colours refers to the German psychologist Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887), who in 1838 published an account involving the creation of illusory colours with the aid of flickering monochromatic light. In this paper Fechner describes how coloured rings appear when a white disc with six black sectors ofincreasing size is rotated at about 30 revolutions/s. While one would expect to perceive six concentric rings of grey with an increasing saturation, this actually results in pale bands of brown-red, red, green, blue, and bluish purple. When rotated in the opposite direction, the same colours appear in reverse order. These illusory colours are referred to as pattern-induced flicker colours (PIFCs). The underlying effect is known as the Prévost-Fechner-Benham effect. The neurophysiological correlates of this effect are not entirely understood, but it is believed that both the retina and the primary visual cortex play an active part in the mediation of the ensuing illusory colours. A variant of the device used by Fechner is known as *Benham's top. Fechner's colours are classified as a * physiological illusion.
   References
   Fechner, G.T. (1838). Ueber eine Scheibe zur Erzeugung subjectiver Farben. Poggendorffs Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 45, 227-232.
   Ninio, J. (2001). The science ofillusions.Trans-lated by Philip, F. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Dictionary of Hallucinations. . 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fechner color — is an illusion of color seen when looking at certain rapidly changing or moving black and white patterns. They are also called pattern induced flicker colors (PIFCs). Not everyone sees the same colors.It is most commonly demonstrated with a… …   Wikipedia

  • flicker colours —    see Fechner s colours …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • illusory colours —    see Fechner s colours …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • subjective colours —    see Fechner s colours …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • Benham's top —    Also known as Benham s disk, Benham s wheel, and artificial spectrum top. The eponym Benham s top refers to the British amateur scientist and toymaker Charles Edwin Benham (18601929), who in 1894 published an account in Nature describing a… …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • Psychology (The separation of) from philosophy — The separation of psychology from philosophy Studies in the sciences of mind 1815–1879 Edward S.Reed THE IMPOSSIBLE SCIENCE Traditional metaphysics The consensus of European opinion during and immediately after the Napoleonic era was that… …   History of philosophy

  • Synesthesia — For other uses, see Synesthesia (disambiguation). How someone with synesthesia might perceive certain letters and numbers. Synesthesia (also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiae or synaesthesiae), from the ancient Greek σύν… …   Wikipedia

  • History of aesthetics (pre-20th-century) — This description of the history of aesthetics before the twentieth century is based on an article from the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.Greek SpeculationsAncient Greece supplies us with the first important contributions to… …   Wikipedia

  • Charles Benham — Charles Edwin Benham Born April 15, 1860(1860 04 15) Colchester, Essex, England Died April 1, 1929(1929 04 01 …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”