The Art, Science & History of Colour Quiz. Part 1: Seeing in Colour

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This quiz consists of 10 multiple choice questions relating to how we see the world in colour. The main aim of the quiz is to improve general understanding of these topics rather than to statistically document current knowledge, so feel free either to look up sources you consider reliable or to do the quiz entirely from your current understanding, whichever you prefer. If none of the options seems exactly correct, choose the most correct answer. When you have finished all of the questions you can obtain your score and see extensive feedback and links supporting the answers marked correct.

See also:

Part 2: Circles of hue.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_wkjlTkXXTHD51_D726-KUCAulVdsDq8mn3aw9q58CY

Part 3: Colours of objects
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fMpYvYEeIRAReJs57uSMJQyD-KfJQzb0838A-sZA0l8

Part 4: Paints and paint mixing
In preparation

Part 5: Colour in art history
In preparation

1. The three types of cone cells in the retina of the human eye (A) individually detect red, green and blue wavelengths of light respectively, and (B) send signals for these three colours/wavelengths from the eye to the brain, which then decides which colour it is seeing based on the ratio of these signals. *

Both A and B are true.

A is basically true but B is false

Both A and B are false.

2. Laptop and mobile phone screens use red, green and blue lights as primaries because *

these are the only three colours that we really see.

the wavelengths of these three lights all coincide closely with the peak sensitivity of one of our three cone cell types.

both of the above.

the wavelengths of these three lights do not all coincide closely with the peak sensitivity of a cone cell type, but each of these lights makes one cone cell type respond more strongly than the other two.

3. While (A) Newton believed that colours exist physically in rays of light, (B) Goethe maintained that all colours are subjective perceptions evoked by light in the observer. *

Both A and B are true

Both A and B are false

A is true, B is false

A is false, B is true

4. A hue such as middle yellow is: *

a specific wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum detectable by our visual system.

the way in which we perceive a specific wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum detected by our visual system.

the way in which we perceive, not a specific wavelength, but a wavelength-related property of lights or objects.

a perception that does not relate to a wavelength-related property of lights or objects.

5. An intensely yellow paint such as cadmium yellow: *

strongly absorbs the yellow-appearing wavelengths of light (around 570-580 nm) and reflects away most of the other wavelengths.

strongly reflects the yellow-appearing wavelengths of light and possibly also some green- or orange-appearing wavelengths.

strongly absorbs the blue- and violet-appearing wavelengths of light and strongly reflects most of the other wavelengths.

strongly reflects all wavelengths but slightly more of the red-, yellow- and green-appearing wavelengths.

6. Which of the following squares exhibits an additive complementary of this yellow square (R 255 G 255 B 000)? [That is, which square or squares emit LIGHT that could make white light when mixed with light from the yellow square?] *

A only (R 123 G 000 B 255)

B only (R 160 G 160 B 255)

C only (R 000 G 000 B 255)

A and B

B and C

7. When a mixture of blue and yellow paints appears green it is because: *

the colour green is a secondary colour made of the primary colours blue and yellow.

the particular blue and yellow paints we used must have had a green bias.

even middle blue and middle yellow paints reflect some green-appearing wavelengths, and in paint mixtures it is the wavelengths that the paints have in common that tend to predominate.

8. Discs painted ultramarine blue and lemon yellow, slotted together as shown here and spun very rapidly, will appear: *

green, yellowish green or bluish green depending on the proportions of the discs exposed.

grey, yellowish grey or bluish grey, depending on the proportions of the discs exposed.

white, yellowish white or bluish white, depending on the proportions of the discs exposed.

9. In this demonstration of simultaneous contrast the two small squares differ in perceived colour but have the same RGB values and would match the same Munsell colour chip placed in contact with them. Which of the following descriptions of this demonstration is in accord with the standard scientific definition of the word "colour" published by the Commission Internationale de L'éclairage (CIE)? *

the influence of the surroundings changes the colour of the squares (that is, colour is a perception)

the squares are actually the same colour but only appear to have different colours on the different surroundings (that is, colour is a fixed property of the stimulus)

both of the above are formally acceptable and reflect two distinct defined senses of the word "colour".

10. Experiments have shown that when subjects are asked to spot an "oddball" target that differs in colour from the remainder (lower left in b), *

it never makes any difference whether the odd-coloured target has the same or a different colour name in the subject's language.

it can make a small difference (a fraction of a second) in the speed at which the odd-coloured tagret is spotted according to whether it has the same or a different colour name in the subject's language.

some subjects have been found to be completely unable to spot an odd-coloured target that has the same colour name in their language, even if the target looks very different to the remainder to speakers of other languages.

Footnote

* The CIE International Lighting Vocabulary defines a colour space as a "geometric representation of colour in space, usually of 3 dimensions" (http://eilv.cie.co.at/term/226) and a colorimetric colour space as a "colour space defined by 3 colorimetric coordinates" (http://eilv.cie.co.at/term/193). An alternative usage, found for example in publications by Adobe Inc., restricts the term "colour space" to colorimetric colour spaces, and refers to non-colorimetric colour spaces as "colour models".

More about this quiz

This quiz grew out of an invited presentation I gave at the ISCC/AIC Munsell Centennial Symposium in Boston in June 2018 on the topic "Where is Color Education Today?", in which I argued that in several important ways colour education in art and design today presents not a simplified but a fossilized version of our current understanding of colour. The problems involve not only positive disinformation about colour in books and on the internet, but also the failure of important current concepts like hue opponency and the lucid systematics of perceived colour developed by the CIE to widely penetrate art and design teaching. The feedback provided to these quizzes progressively addresses many of the problems I identified in my presentation, peppered with a few interesting historical observations. The presentation is available as a pdf on the ISCC website at http://www.iscc-archive.org/Munsell2018_Presentations/Briggs-Presentation-WhereIsColourEducationNow.pdf

If you'd like to read more about our current understanding of colour, two exceptionally reliable and approachable recent texts are Rolf Kuehni's "Color" (3rd edition, 2012) and the first part of Mark Fairchild's "Color Appearance Models" (3rd edition, 2013). (The second part is excellent too, but covers the various models used to predict the colour appearance of stimuli under different conditions). For more detailed information the Springer "Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology" (Luo, 2016) is useful alongside Fairchild, Franklin and Elliot's outstanding "Handbook of Color Psychology" (2016), with chapters by preeminent specialists on subjects ranging from cone cells to colour symbolism and associations. Bruce MacEvoy's "Handprint" site (https://www.handprint.com/) provides an individual view of a similarly vast range of topics, as well as detailed information on paints for watercolour painters, while my own site "The Dimensions of Colour" (http://www.huevaluechroma.com/) focuses more narrowly on the attributes/dimensions of perceived and psychophysical colour and their practical application for painters working in traditional and digital media. For a survey of colour classifications Kuehni and Schwarz's "Color Ordered" (2008) is unmatched. By far the largest and most authoritative source for the scientific terminology of colour and light is the CIE ""International Lighting Vocabulary", now online at http://eilv.cie.co.at/.

Dr David Briggs
Lecturer, National Art School, Julian Ashton Art School and University of Technology Sydney
Vice President and NSW Division Chair, Colour Society of Australia
Website: "The Dimensions of Colour", http://www.huevaluechroma.com/

About you

Before you check your answers, please answer three quick questions about yourself!

At what levels have you taken formal classes in colour? (check all that apply)

none

In classes for ages 5-12

In classes for ages 12-15

In classes for ages 15-18

In higher education degree/postgrad classes

in adult continuing education classes

In online courses

At what levels you worked teaching colour? (check all that apply) *

none

In classes for ages 5-12

In classes for ages 12-15

In classes for ages 15-18

In higher education degree/postgrad classes

in adult continuing education classes

In online courses

Required

What is your country of residence? *

Finally, is this your first attempt at this part of "The Art, Science & History of Colour Quiz"? (Please try it as often as you like, but I'm interested to see the statistics for first attempts) *

Yes

Thank you!

Thanks very much for completing this section of the quiz. It's no cause for despair if you get a low score; the quiz is intended to highlight some extremely widely held misconceptions about colour, as well as to draw attention to a few important or curious facts that I think ought to be much better known. The questions are ordered so that working through the feedback for each question in turn should yield a cumulative understanding of the topic.

To discuss any of the answers provided here you are very welcome to write a visitor post at https://www.facebook.com/DimensionsOfColour/

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