Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Color Vision01:24

Color Vision

Color perception begins in the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. Two main theories explain how colors are seen: the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory. The trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and extended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, suggests that color vision is based on three types of cone receptors in the retina. These cones are sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths corresponding to red, blue, and green.
Perceptual Constancy01:12

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that objects remain consistent and unchanged even when their appearance varies due to changes in sensory input. There are four main types of perceptual constancy: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness constancy.
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
Gestalt Principles of Perception01:21

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...
Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy01:26

Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy

Phase-Contrast Microscopes
In-phase-contrast microscopes, interference between light directly passing through a cell and light refracted by cellular components is used to create high-contrast, high-resolution images without staining. It is the oldest and simplest type of microscope that creates an image by altering the wavelengths of light rays passing through the specimen. Altered wavelength paths are created using an annular stop in the condenser. The annular stop produces a hollow cone of...
Colors and Magnetism03:02

Colors and Magnetism

Color in Coordination Complexes
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human eye.
Pigmentation01:19

Pigmentation

The color of the skin is influenced by a number of pigments, including melanin, carotene, and hemoglobin. Recall that melanin is produced by cells called melanocytes, which are found scattered throughout the stratum basale of the epidermis. The melanin is transferred to the keratinocytes via melanosomes.
Melanin occurs in two primary forms: eumelanin that provides black and brown pigment and pheomelanin that provides red color. Dark-skinned individuals produce more melanin than those with pale...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Guest Editorial: The Beauty and the Beast.

Perception·2025
Same author

Bicyclopic Idomenian vision.

Perception·2025
Same author

Varieties of pictorial vision.

i-Perception·2024
Same author

The well-tempered color circle: A chromatic Gestalt.

i-Perception·2024
Same author

"Warm," "cool," and the colors.

Journal of vision·2024
Same author

What is "perception research" anyway?

Perception·2023
Same journal

Multi-module collaborative optimization-driven fast speckle correlation imaging in variable environments.

Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision·2026
Same journal

Secrecy performance analysis of NOMA-UWOC systems over a vertically stratified WGG oceanic turbulence channel.

Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision·2026
Same journal

Backscattering of plane waves in a composite system containing a rough surface and anisotropic scatterers.

Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision·2026
Same journal

Aspherical surface construction methods based on extended Jacobi polynomials.

Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision·2026
Same journal

OCT sidelobe suppression method based on dual-path phase sinusoidal modulation and minimum value fusion.

Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision·2026
Same journal

Optical design concepts using wavelength-selective diffractive optics to enable miniaturized multimodal endoscopic imaging across separated spectral ranges.

Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Applying Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging to Investigate the Palettes and the Techniques of Painters
07:05

Applying Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging to Investigate the Palettes and the Techniques of Painters

Published on: June 18, 2021

Transparency and imaginary colors.

Whitman Richards1, Jan J Koenderink, Andrea van Doorn

  • 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32-364, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. wrichards@mit.edu

Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, Image Science, and Vision
|May 5, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

When colored overlays and backgrounds are used, the perceived surface colors can be "imaginary" and not physically possible. This visual illusion demonstrates the complex nature of transparency perception.

More Related Videos

Blue-hazard-free Candlelight OLED
10:18

Blue-hazard-free Candlelight OLED

Published on: March 19, 2017

Visualizing Visual Adaptation
04:43

Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Published on: April 24, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Applying Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging to Investigate the Palettes and the Techniques of Painters
07:05

Applying Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging to Investigate the Palettes and the Techniques of Painters

Published on: June 18, 2021

Blue-hazard-free Candlelight OLED
10:18

Blue-hazard-free Candlelight OLED

Published on: March 19, 2017

Visualizing Visual Adaptation
04:43

Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Published on: April 24, 2017

Area of Science:

  • Visual perception
  • Color science
  • Psychophysics

Background:

  • The Metelli configuration is a classical setup for studying transparency.
  • Monochromatic transparencies are well-understood, but chromatic content introduces complexities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To demonstrate and explore the attributes of "imaginary" colors in chromatic transparency.
  • To investigate observer differences in perceiving complex transparencies.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing the classical Metelli configuration with chromatic overlays and backgrounds.
  • Analyzing inferred chromatic transmittance and reflectance values.

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated that inferred surface colors can be physically unrealizable ("imaginary") with chromatic content.
  • Identified inferred chromatic transmittance/reflectance outside RGB spectral boundaries.
  • Observed variations in illusory color perception among different observers.

Conclusions:

  • Perception of chromatic transparency is significantly more complex than previously assumed.
  • The study highlights the existence of "imaginary" colors in visual perception.
  • Observer variability plays a role in the perception of complex visual stimuli.