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Color-Opponency, Unique Hues

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Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

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Synonyms

Color-opponent processing; Focal colors; Hue opponency

Definition

Unique hues are colors that cannot be described by any other color term than their own. There are four unique hues: red, green, blue, and yellow. Unique hues emerge at the equilibrium points of the color-opponent mechanisms: a color which appears neither reddish nor greenish is a unique yellow or unique blue; a color which appears neither yellowish nor blueish is unique red or unique green.

Historical View

Four colors occupy a special place in color perception. They are called unique hues and they originate from the opponent color theory proposed by Ewald Hering in 1878 [1]. Hering was the first to notice that some pairs of colors, namely, red and green, and yellow and blue, cannot be perceived at the same time. He named these pairs of colors “Gegenfarben” [opponent colors], since they are mutually exclusive colors as indicated by the lack of overlap between red and green, and between yellow and blue in...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Sophie Wuerger

  2. Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton, CA, USA

    Eriko Self

Authors
  1. Sophie Wuerger
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  2. Eriko Self
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sophie Wuerger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Color Science & Imaging Lab, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Renzo Shamey

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Sophie Wuerger Ph.D.

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Wuerger, S., Self, E. (2022). Color-Opponency, Unique Hues. In: Shamey, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_92-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_92-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Color-Opponency, Unique Hues
    Published:
    25 June 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_92-2

  2. Original

    Color Vision, Opponent Theory
    Published:
    14 May 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_92-1

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