Color: what could it be?

摘要

This article comments on the current interest in the subject of consciousness and the related subject of the nature of color experiences. Color is seen to be a special symbolic language into which spectral power distributions of areas of the visual field, arriving at the retina and related to those of other areas, are translated. With a code of five "letters," Y, R, B, G and Gray and modulation of these towards dark and light the information content of an unlimited number of spectral power distributions is efficiently conveyed to consciousness. The philosophical conundrum of "inverted spectra" is briefly addressed, as is the difference in focal and unique green and the reappearance of red at the short wave end of the spectrum.