Newsgroups: sci.bio
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watcgl!jwtlai
From: jwtlai@watcgl.waterloo.edu (Jim W Lai)
Subject: Re: Primary colors in human color vision
Message-ID: <1991Mar23.090516.19937@watcgl.waterloo.edu>
Organization: University of Waterloo
References: <00945FE5.1F9B5480@aclcb.purdue.edu> <4buhpE_00Vp54on145@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1991 09:05:16 GMT
Lines: 20

In article <4buhpE_00Vp54on145@andrew.cmu.edu> jpab+@andrew.cmu.edu (Josh N. Pritikin) writes:
>miguel@aclcb.purdue.edu (Phillip) writes:
>>    The additive primary hues, according to an undergrad general psychology 
>> text book I have (Gleitmann (sp?)), are blue and yellow (which are 
>> etc...
>
>I suggest that you find a computer with a 24-bit color display and
>play with a color painting program for a couple of hours. Also note
>that color is just half the story, texture is very important in what
>we think of as color.
>
>joshp -> t

It has been found experimentally that three color stimuli (not four) are
sufficient to produce color matches.  This is why color monitors have three
phosphors, not four.  The empirical rules that describe this are known as
Grassmann's Laws.

Strictly speaking, texture is a property of surfaces (or virtual surfaces
in this case), not color.  It can affect color perception, yes.