Aspects of perception and computation in color vision

One of the areas which has received little attention in computer vision research is color vision. The main reason for this was technological: color digitizers and monitors were not very common, and the amount of computation and memory needed for chromatic image processing were large and expensive. This is not longer a major factor. In addition, recent studies suggest that color contributes to other visual processes, and therefore cannot be considered as a mechanism which merely adds beauty to scenes. It should be an integral part of any computer vision system, and justifies a more complex treatment. This paper reviews the main aspects of color vision, which originate from different disciplines of science. Physical concepts regarding light and reflection govern the appearance of objects. The structure of the visual system (mainly in primates) may help the construction of computational models of color vision. Psychophysical experiments are a resource of theories which can be implemented and tested as part of a vision system. The discussion in this paper includes the different facts and problems they pose, some of which are currently being explored.

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