title: Color vision and the four-color-map problem.
abstract: Four different colors are needed to make maps that avoid adjacent countries of the same color. Because the retinal image is two dimensional, like a map, four dimensions of chromatic experience would also be needed to optimally distinguish regions returning spectrally different light to the eye. We therefore suggest that the organization of human color vision according to four-color classes (reds, greens, blues, and yellows) has arisen as a solution to this logical requirement in topology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. purves@neuro.duke.edu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Purves
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lotto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Polger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003116:Color; D003118:Color Perception; D006801:Humans; D008377:Maps as Topic; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*