Abstract

Some fundamental principles of colour vision, deduced from perceptual studies, have been understood for a long time. Physiological studies have confirmed the existence of three classes of cone photoreceptors, and of colour-opponent neurons that compare the signals from cones, but modern work has drawn attention to unexpected complexities of early organization: the proportions of cones of different types vary widely among individuals, without great effect on colour vision; the arrangement of different types of cones in the mosaic seems to be random, making it hard to optimize the connections to colour-opponent mechanisms; and new forms of colour-opponent mechanisms have recently been discovered. At a higher level, in the primary visual cortex, recent studies have revealed a simpler organization than had earlier been supposed, and in some respects have made it easier to reconcile physiological and perceptual findings.

Author affiliations

1. Disciplines of Physiology, Anatomy and Histology, School of Medical Sciences and Bosch Institute, Anderson-Stuart Building F13, The University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
2. Center for Visual Science and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, New York 14627, USA.

Correspondence to: Peter Lennie² Email: peter.lennie@nyu.edu

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