PSYC 230 UNIT 11 EXAM QUESTIONS AND
COMPLETE ANSWERS
Heterochromatic Light - answer A light has energy in more than one wavelength
Monochromatic Light - answer Only produces energy in one particular wavelength
Spectral Reflectance - answer What is absorbed and reflected by a source
-what is the color of objects
-light doesn't have color
-fluorescent light, green light
Refletance - answer When light is bounced back and absorbed
Achromatic Lightness - answer Amount of light reflected by a surface, intesnity being
bounced back and all at the same degree
Hue - answer -refers to the quality
-what allows you to assign words to colors
-ex: this is light blue
Saturation - answer How intense a color is a particular spot
-two triangles one is light and one is dark, they have the same hue but lighter one has
higher saturation
Lightness - answer Our ability to perceive the relative reflectance of objects despite
changes in illumination
Brightness - answer How much light is being reflected back
Additive Color Mixing (mixing lights) - answer When you have two sources of light and
you project them
-as you add more light it become lighter
-pointest painting
Pointest Painting - answer Color perceiving is not actually the color you are seeing, it is
a bunch of small dots but your brain perceives it as certain color and object
(ex of additive color mixing)
, Subtractive Color Mixing (mixing paints) - answer Mixing different paints together
-as you add more, it becomes darker
-when you add colors according to the spectrum it can create a new color but when you
go away from the spectrum and add too many colors it begins to look black
Color Matching Experiments - answer Almost every color can be produced by using 3
different light sources
-ex: metameric matching
Metameric Matching - answer Combined wavelengths can be added to match original
color
S-Cones - answer Record short wavelength of light
-below 400 nm to 500 nm
-likes to record at peak
M-Cones - answer Record medium wavelength of light
-450nm to 600 nm
L-Cones - answer Records long wavelength
-500 nm to 700 nm
Univariance - answer The principle whereby any single cone system is colorblind, in the
sense that different combination of wavelength and intensity can result in the same
response from the cone system
-if we only had one type of photoreceptor we would not be able to perceive color, need
different wavelengths to see color
Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision - answer Three cone system in our retinae: the color
of any light is determined by three cone system in our retinae
-created by Thomas Young and Herman Von Helmholtz
Opponent Theory of Color Perception - answer The theory that color perception arises
from three opponent mechanisms, for red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white
COMPLETE ANSWERS
Heterochromatic Light - answer A light has energy in more than one wavelength
Monochromatic Light - answer Only produces energy in one particular wavelength
Spectral Reflectance - answer What is absorbed and reflected by a source
-what is the color of objects
-light doesn't have color
-fluorescent light, green light
Refletance - answer When light is bounced back and absorbed
Achromatic Lightness - answer Amount of light reflected by a surface, intesnity being
bounced back and all at the same degree
Hue - answer -refers to the quality
-what allows you to assign words to colors
-ex: this is light blue
Saturation - answer How intense a color is a particular spot
-two triangles one is light and one is dark, they have the same hue but lighter one has
higher saturation
Lightness - answer Our ability to perceive the relative reflectance of objects despite
changes in illumination
Brightness - answer How much light is being reflected back
Additive Color Mixing (mixing lights) - answer When you have two sources of light and
you project them
-as you add more light it become lighter
-pointest painting
Pointest Painting - answer Color perceiving is not actually the color you are seeing, it is
a bunch of small dots but your brain perceives it as certain color and object
(ex of additive color mixing)
, Subtractive Color Mixing (mixing paints) - answer Mixing different paints together
-as you add more, it becomes darker
-when you add colors according to the spectrum it can create a new color but when you
go away from the spectrum and add too many colors it begins to look black
Color Matching Experiments - answer Almost every color can be produced by using 3
different light sources
-ex: metameric matching
Metameric Matching - answer Combined wavelengths can be added to match original
color
S-Cones - answer Record short wavelength of light
-below 400 nm to 500 nm
-likes to record at peak
M-Cones - answer Record medium wavelength of light
-450nm to 600 nm
L-Cones - answer Records long wavelength
-500 nm to 700 nm
Univariance - answer The principle whereby any single cone system is colorblind, in the
sense that different combination of wavelength and intensity can result in the same
response from the cone system
-if we only had one type of photoreceptor we would not be able to perceive color, need
different wavelengths to see color
Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision - answer Three cone system in our retinae: the color
of any light is determined by three cone system in our retinae
-created by Thomas Young and Herman Von Helmholtz
Opponent Theory of Color Perception - answer The theory that color perception arises
from three opponent mechanisms, for red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white
