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pigmented colorants: dependence on media and time - Cornell ...

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Chapter 3<br />

Color Background<br />

3.1 Light <strong>and</strong> Color<br />

Color is my day-l<strong>on</strong>g obsessi<strong>on</strong>, joy <strong>and</strong> torment.<br />

-Claude M<strong>on</strong>et<br />

The human visual system c<strong>on</strong>sists of three major comp<strong>on</strong>ents: eyes, which cap-<br />

ture light <strong>and</strong> c<strong>on</strong>vert it into neural messages; visual pathways, which modify <strong>and</strong><br />

transmit those messages from the eye to the brain; <strong>and</strong> visual centers of the brain,<br />

which interpret the messages in ways useful for guiding behavior [SB02]. Hence,<br />

the study of color science is broken down into three areas: physical, quantifying<br />

the physical energy which reaches the eye; perceptual, determining the perceptual<br />

resp<strong>on</strong>ses of the human visual system; <strong>and</strong> interpretive, determining the overall<br />

impressi<strong>on</strong>. All of these comp<strong>on</strong>ents are crucially involved in seeing.<br />

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