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A new perceptual problem: The amodal completion of color

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2008

BAINGIO PINNA
BAINGIO PINNA*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze dei Linguaggi, University of Sassari, Italy
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Baingio Pinna, Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature Straniere, Dipartimento di Scienze dei Linguaggi, University of Sassari, via Roma 151, I-07100 Sassari, Italy. E-mail: baingio@uniss.it
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Abstract

Amodal completion is the most common form of visual completion occurring when portions of an object are hidden, due to their occlusion behind another object (Michotte, 1951). Just as a shape is completed amodally behind another occluding shape, so is a color behind another occluding color or behind a lighting: a bright light reflected by a three-dimensional object. Four possible phenomenal combinations related to the amodal completion of color are shown: amodal or modal coloration or discoloration. Purposes of four experiments were: (1) to demonstrate the amodal completion of color under different stimulus conditions and under chromatic and achromatic conditions and (2) to extract the general principles ruling the amodal completion of color: “which, among many, is the color that completes amodally?” and, consequently, “which is the region of an object that determines its color?” The results showed the effectiveness of the amodal completion of color and that chromatic and achromatic conditions reveal different results. Four general principles of the amodal completion of color, useful to understand the more general problem of phenomenal organization of color, are suggested.

Keywords

Color VisionPerceptual organizationWatercolor illusionAmodal completionDiscoloration illusionLighting illusion
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , May 2008 , pp. 415 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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