How color break-up occurs in the human-visual system: The mechanism of the color break-up phenomenon

Abstract

— In the present set of experiments, we examined the mechanisms underlying color break-up (CBU), a phenomenon observed when images produced with a color-sequential projector are viewed. The perceived position of CBU was measured during fast eye movement, saccade with static and briefly flashed stimuli. Results showed that CBU did not simply correspond to the locus of the stimulus on the retina during saccades, because the width of the CBU perception was narrower than the distance of the eye movements. This effect was thought to be related to visual stability, which allows objects to be perceived as stationary even when the eyes move and the retinal image changes position. Visual stability is assumed to operate by compensating for the change in retinal image position using eye-position signals; however, this compensation is imperfect during saccades. Thus, incomplete compensation results in a CBU perception that is of a narrower width than the amplitude of the saccade. In conclusion, CBU cannot be simulated with moving video cameras because it results largely from the mechanisms of visual perception. Large inter-individual differences in perception of CBU were also found. This observation also supports the idea that CBU depends on the mechanism of perception.