Judging Hue In Motion: How The Human Brain Perceives Moving Colors

Judging Hue In Motion: How The Human Brain Perceives Moving Colors

Scientists have attempted to discover how the human brain perceives moving colors. The scientific application of this discovery is tremendous. From understanding how football players perceive the colors of rival player's jerseys to understanding how an air squadron can distinguish the colors of an enemy plane, sky's the limit when it comes to understanding how to apply data pertaining to perception of flying colors. Scientists from the University of Chicago have discovered how this feat is accomplished by the human brain.

An individual unique population of neurons in the human brain are responsible for the perception of color in motion. Moving colours are seen in a combination through the specific neurons or nerve cells in the human brain. University of Chicago researchers have detected the unique population of neurons in the human brain which discover the shifting sensitivity to colors and the direction based on what is being perceived and paid attention to.

"Most of the objects in any given visual scene are not that important, so how does the brain select or attend to important ones?" researcher David Freedman from the University of Chicago has been quoted as saying. "We've zeroed in on an area of the brain that appears central to this process. It does this in a very flexible way, changing moment by moment depending on what is being looked for," Freedman also added.

Multiple and interconnected regions of the brain in the visual cortex are responsible for the processing of visual raw signals attended to by the eye. Basic data on movement and color are routed through two of these kinds of regions. How the brain combines these streams into a useful pattern for comprehension and other higher order processes is currently being explored further.

In the particular study conducted by Freedman and postdoctoral researcher G. Ibos, monkeys were shown a number of visual images in a rapid way. The initial images displayed upward motion of groups of red dots or downward movement of yellow dots, serving as instructions pertaining to which colors and direction were of relevance during the trial.

Rewards were given when subjects released a lever whenever the image later appeared again. Different colors of dots in different directions were the composition of subsequent images. The initial image was also among these. The researchers conducting the experiment were interested in how the neurons in the lateral intraparietal area functioned. This area of the brain influences the perception of vision as well as motor control and cognitive functions. The neurons in this region became more active as subjects looked at certain combinations of movement and color.

This discovery was published in the journal Neuron. More research is on to discover the neural substrates of perception of moving colors.