Color Cues Research Articles

Machine learning for the identification of colour cues to estimate quality parameters of rocket leaves

Computer Vision Systems (CVSs) have proved to be a powerful tool to evaluate the quality of agricultural products in a non-destructive, contactless, sustainable and objective way. Machine learning techniques have proved to simplify the development of CVS and to provide better performance and greater flexibility in matching the requirements of different products and environmental characteristics, but they are often computationally complex and difficult to be understood by humans. It is desirable to develop methods that exploit the benefits of learning and generate simple and fast solutions that are also interpretable by humans. The approach described in this paper analyses a previously developed and effective machine learning model to extract the information useful to develop computationally light and easily understandable algorithms that evaluate the characteristics of interest on rocket leaves. A Random Forest model previously developed to classify visual quality and to estimate chlorophyll and ammonia contents in rocket leaves has been studied to identify a small set of visual characteristics (colours) that correlate with relevant properties of the product. These visual characteristics have been used as input for several simple, fast and easily understandable algorithms that classify visual quality (QL) and estimate chlorophyll and ammonia contents with lower computational complexities compared to the original Random Forest model. Results obtained by these methods are shown and compared with the ones provided by the original Random Forest model. All the algorithms provided a good separation between marketable and non-marketable samples. They required from 1ms to 22 ms to classify a new sample instead of the 25 ms of the original Random Forest model. Additionally, two methods provided good prediction of chlorophyll (R2v = 0.70) and ammonia (R2v = 0.72) contents requiring only 3 ms and 1 ms respectively.

Contingent capture by color is sensitive to categorical color perception.

Contingent capture (CC) theory postulates that attention can only be captured by top-down matching stimuli. Although the contingent capture of attention is a well-known and thoroughly studied phenomenon, there is still no consensus on the characteristics of the top-down template which guides the search for colors. We tried to replicate the classical contingent capture effect on color (Experiment 1) and then added linguistic processing to this perceptual effect (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, attention was indeed captured by the cues of the same color as the target, while the cues of different colors were successfully ignored. In Experiment 2, the cue color was never identical to the target color but would either belong to the same linguistic category or not (i.e., linguistic matching and linguistic nonmatching cues). In both cases, cues were made to be equally perceptually distant from the target. Although, attention was captured by both cue types, the degree of capture was significantly higher for linguistic matching cues. Our research replicated the classic contingent capture effect but on color, and also demonstrated the effect of color categories in the search task. In short, we demonstrated the effect of color categories in the search task. Results show that the template for color search contains physical characteristics of color, as well as information about color category names.

The role of head and body cues in visual individual recognition in grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus).

Individual recognition underlies social behaviors in many species and is essential for complex social interactions commonly occurring between conspecifics. Focusing on visual perception, we explored this process in African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) using the matching-to-sample (MTS) method commonly used in primate research. We used cards made from photographs of familiar conspecific in four consecutive experiments, first testing the ability of our subjects (two male and one female adult) to match the photographs of familiar individuals and then creating modified stimuli cards to determine which visual aspects and features were crucial for successful recognition of a familiar conspecific. All three subjects were able to successfully match different photographs of familiar conspecifics in Experiment 1. Experiments 2-4 showed that modification of the facial area in the photograph had only a weak effect on subjects' success rates in MTS tasks. On the other hand, changes in the plumage color or obscuring of abdominal cues impaired their ability to successfully match conspecifics' photographs in some tasks. This study implies that African grey parrots process visual information holistically. Moreover, the process of individual recognition in this species differs from what we find in primates, including humans, where faces play a crucial role. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Mental imagery and visual attentional templates: A dissociation

There is a growing interest in the relationship between mental images and attentional templates as both are considered pictorial representations that involve similar neural mechanisms. Here, we investigated the role of mental imagery in the automatic implementation of attentional templates and their effect on involuntary attention. We developed a novel version of the contingent capture paradigm designed to encourage the generation of a new template on each trial and measure contingent spatial capture by a template-matching visual feature (color). Participants were required to search at four different locations for a specific object indicated at the start of each trial. Immediately prior to the search display, color cues were presented surrounding the potential target locations, one of which matched the target color (e.g., red for strawberry).Across three experiments, our task induced a robust contingent capture effect, reflected by faster responses when the target appeared in the location previously occupied by the target-matching cue. Contrary to our predictions, this effect remained consistent regardless of self-reported individual differences in visual mental imagery (Experiment 1, N = 216) or trial-by-trial variation of voluntary imagery vividness (Experiment 2, N = 121). Moreover, contingent capture was observed even among aphantasic participants, who report no imagery (Experiment 3, N = 91). The magnitude of the effect was not reduced in aphantasics compared to a control sample of non-aphantasics, although the two groups reported substantial differences in their search strategy and exhibited differences in overall speed and accuracy. Our results hence establish a dissociation between the generation and implementation of attentional templates for a visual feature (color) and subjectively experienced imagery.

Exploiting sublimated deep features for image retrieval

Deep learning techniques can be used to describe image content, which is a good way to reduce the semantic gap between low-level and high-level features. However, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) exhibit texture bias and largely ignore global object shape. This does not conform to human perception and can fail to gain the advantages of both low-level features and deep features. To address this problem, in this work, the main focus was shifted from using simple deep features to the use of sublimated deep features, which incorporate global object shape and color features. Along these lines, in this work, a novel image retrieval method named the sublimated deep feature histogram (SDFH) was proposed. The main highlights are: 1) An effect orientation feature was introduced, namely, orientation-selective feature, to mimic the orientation-selection mechanism. This provides a good representation of global object shape and reduces the side-effects of texture bias. 2) A new concept was developed, namely color perceptual feature, to address the shortcoming of deep features—that they discard color features. This includes color cues in the deep features and provides a more discriminating representation. 3) The orientation selective and color perception mechanisms were effectively mimicked to provide a compact yet efficient representation, and propose an effective transfer learning method called gain whitening learning. By carrying out comparative experiments, it was demonstrated that sublimated deep features can provide highly competitive retrieval performance (in terms of mean average precision) using a pre-trained CNN model applied to well-known benchmark datasets. Our results provide new insights into image retrieval based on the mechanisms of the primary visual cortex (V1). Furthermore, the method is more in line with human perception than other methods.

Playing hide and seek: Contextual regularity learning develops between 3 and 5 years of age

The ability to acquire contextual regularities is fundamental in everyday life because it helps us to navigate the environment, directing our attention where relevant events are more likely to occur. Sensitivity to spatial regularities has been largely reported from infancy. Nevertheless, it is currently unclear when children can use this rapidly acquired contextual knowledge to guide their behavior. Evidence of this ability is indeed mixed in school-aged children and, to date, it has never been explored in younger children and toddlers. The current study investigated the development of contextual regularity learning in children aged 3 to 5 years. To this aim, we designed a new contextual learning paradigm in which young children were presented with recurring configurations of bushes and were asked to guess behind which bush a cartoon monkey was hiding. In a series of two experiments, we manipulated the relevance of color and visuospatial cues for the underlying task goal and tested how this affected young children’s behavior. Our results bridge the gap between the infant and adult literatures, showing that sensitivity to spatial configurations persists from infancy to childhood, but it is only around the fifth year of life that children naturally start to integrate multiple cues to guide their behavior.

How to signal product variety on pack: an investigation of color and image cues

Line Extensions are among the most common form of product launch in packaged goods markets. As part of this process, brand managers must decide the visual design of the new variant’s packaging. To inform this decision making, this research aims to empirically quantify the efficacy of using colors versus images as signals of product variety on pack. We compare the use of color on 576 packs with perceptions of 1,853 category buyers across three categories in the USA. We find that for 84% of variant types, marketers use common colors to signal variety on pack, while consumers perceive that only 56% of variant types are represented by a particular color. Of greater concern, the colors used in practice and those expected by consumers align in only 16% of cases. By comparison, images are linked to variant types to a significantly greater extent (39% of cases). This suggests images are a stronger and more explicit signal of product variety than color. There are multiple implications arising from this study. It expands scholarly research on the use of colors in product extensions and, at the same time, provides a series of valuable benchmarks for industry practice in the portfolio management domain.

Red biases sex categorization of human bodies.

Color is associated with gender information (e.g., red-female). However, little has been known on the effect of color on sex recognition of human bodies. This study aimed to investigate whether the color red could influence the categorization of human bodies by sex, and the effect of contextual information. Visual stimuli were created using body silhouettes varying along the waist-to-hip ratio from female to male shapes. These stimuli were presented in conjunction with red, green, and gray colors, which were used either as body color (Experiment 1) or background color (Experiment 2). Participants were instructed to categorize the sex of the body stimuli as either male or female by pressing labeled keys. The results showed that when red was used as a body color, it induced a bias toward feminine body perception, while when used as a background color, it induced a bias toward masculine body perception. Thus, the color red influenced the sex categorization of human bodies, which being modulated by contextual information. These findings provided novel insights into the effect of contextual color cues in sex recognition of human bodies.

Hand Motions Reveal Attentional Status and Subliminal Semantic Processing: A Mouse-Tracking Technique.

Theories of embodied cognition suggest that hand motions and cognition are closely interconnected. An emerging technique of tracking how participants move a computer mouse (i.e., the mouse-tracking technique) has shown advantages over the traditional response time measurement to detect implicit cognitive conflicts. Previous research suggests that attention is essential for subliminal processing to take place at a semantic level. However, this assumption is challenged by evidence showing the presence of subliminal semantic processing in the near-absence of attention. The inconsistency of evidence could stem from the insufficient sensitivity in the response time measurement. Therefore, we examined the role of attention in subliminal semantic processing by analyzing participants' hand motions using the mouse-tracking technique. The results suggest that subliminal semantic processing is not only enhanced by attention but also occurs when attention is disrupted, challenging the necessity of facilitated top-down attention for subliminal semantic processing, as claimed by a number of studies. In addition, by manipulating the color of attentional cues, our experiment shows that the cue color per se could influence participants' response patterns. Overall, the current study suggests that attentional status and subliminal semantic processing can be reliably revealed by temporal-spatial features extracted from cursor motion trajectories.

In paired preference tests, domestic chicks innately choose the colour green over red, and the shape of a frog over a sphere when both stimuli are green

Many animals express unlearned colour preferences that depend on the context in which signals are encountered. These colour biases may have evolved in response to the signalling system to which they relate. For example, many aposematic animals advertise their unprofitability with red warning signals. Predators’ innate biases against these warning colours have been suggested as one of the potential explanations for the initial evolution of aposematism. It is unclear, however, whether unlearned colour preferences reported in a number of species is truly an innate behaviour or whether it is based on prior experience. We tested the spontaneous colour and shape preferences of dark-hatched, unfed, and visually naive domestic chicks (Gallus gallus). In four experiments, we presented chicks with a choice between either red (a colour typically associated with warning patterns) or green (a colour associated with palatable cryptic prey), volume-matched spheres (representing a generalised fruit shape) or frogs (representing an aposematic animal’s shape). Chicks innately preferred green stimuli and avoided red. Chicks also preferred the shape of a frog over a sphere when both stimuli were green. However, no preference for frogs over spheres was present when stimuli were red. Male chicks that experienced a bitter taste of quinine immediately before the preference test showed a higher preference for green frog-shaped stimuli. Our results suggest that newly hatched chicks innately integrate colour and shape cues during decision making, and that this can be augmented by other sensory experiences. Innate and experience-based behaviour could confer a fitness advantage to novel aposematic prey, and favour the initial evolution of conspicuous colouration.

Integrating color cues to improve multimodal sentiment analysis in social media

Multimodal sentiment analysis is an emerging and critical area of research, particularly in the context of social media where users express their emotions through both text and images. However, existing methods that learn common semantic features between visual and textual modalities for multimodal sentiment analysis often overlook the importance of color information, which plays a crucial role in sentiment expression, according to psychology and art theory. This paper proposes a novel model, named ICCI, which aims to enhance multimodal sentiment analysis in social media by integrating color cues, in order to address the limitation in existing approaches. The proposed model leverages both the semantic information from image-text pairs and the color cues from images to improve the accuracy of sentiment analysis. The model comprises a feature extraction module that extracts semantic features from both images and text, as well as color features from images. Furthermore, the feature interaction module employs a cross-attention mechanism to enable the interaction of information between semantic features and color features. Finally, the label prediction module integrates all attention features to enhance multimodal sentiment analysis. The proposed model was evaluated through experiments on two widely used benchmark datasets, namely MVSA-Single and MVSA-Multiple datasets, demonstrating its effectiveness in outperforming existing methods. On MVSA-Single, ICCI achieved an accuracy of 79.33%. Similarly, on MVSA-Multiple, ICCI achieved an accuracy of 73.29%. The results underscore the importance of integrating color information for more accurate sentiment analysis in social media.

Benefits of a targeted rehabilitation of number transcoding in secondary acalculia: A single-case experimental design.

Despite its potentially significant functional and emotional impact, acalculia is still too rarely assessed and managed by speech and language therapists. Research on the rehabilitation of numerical transcoding remains scarce in the literature and, despite positive results, presents a low level of evidence. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a targeted rehabilitation of numerical transcoding in two patients suffering from a chronic secondary acalculia. Two post-brain injury females with secondary acalculia took part in a single-case experimental design with multiple baseline across subjects according to a three-phase experimental protocol: baseline involving global cognitive rehabilitation (5-7 measurements with randomized sequential introduction); targeted intervention (10 measurements); follow-up (2 immediate measurements and 1 month after the end of the intervention). Repeated outcome measures consisted of six lists composed of numbers of equivalent difficulty that were used alternately to assess numerical transcoding. We used a reverse digit span as a control measure to assess the specificity of the intervention. Rehabilitation lasted 5 weeks and consisted of errorless learning with colour cues, tables and number-words cards. During baseline period involving global cognitive rehabilitation, transcoding scores remained unchanged. In contrast, there was a significant improvement in scores for both patients during the intervention phase targeting transcoding and maintenance of benefits 1-month post-intervention. This study demonstrates that a specific rehabilitation targeting numerical transcoding following chronic secondary acalculia can be effective in improving transcoding skills. What is already known on the subject Transcoding difficulties in patients with acalculia can cause a significant disability in everyday life activities. In secondary acalculia, rehabilitation of cognitive functions associated with number processing (attention, working memory, language) is not sufficient for improvement of transcoding. What this paper adds to existing knowledge An intervention specifically targeting numerical transcoding significantly and durably improves the skills of patients with chronic secondary acalculia. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Procedural error-free intervention using colour cueing, tables, cards with number-words, copy and repetition seems effective to improve transcoding skills in chronic acalculia.

Comparison of regression techniques to predict attractiveness from facial colour cues

Comparison of regression techniques to predict attractiveness from facial colour cues

Reward history modulates visual attention in an avian model.

Attention can be biased towards previously reward-associated stimuli even when they are task-irrelevant and physically non-salient, although studies of reward-modulated attention have been largely limited to primate (including human and nonhuman) models. Birds have been shown to have the capacity to discriminate reward and spatial cues in a manner similar to primates, but whether reward history involuntarily affects their attention in the same way remains unclear. We adapted a spatial cueing paradigm with differential rewards to investigate how reward modulates the allocation of attention in peafowl (Pavo cristatus). The birds were required to locate and peck a target on a computer screen that was preceded by a high-value or low-value color cue that was uninformative with respect to the location of the upcoming target. All birds exhibited a validity effect (performance enhanced on valid compared to invalid cue), and an interaction effect between value and validity was evident at the group level, being particularly pronounced in the birds with the greatest amount of reward training. The time course of reward learning was conspicuously incremental, phenomenologically slower compared to primates. Our findings suggest a similar influence of reward history on attention across phylogeny despite a significant difference in neuroanatomy.

Preparing for simultaneous action and inaction: Temporal dynamics and target levels of inhibitory control.

When a single action is required, along with the simultaneous inhibition of another action, this typically results in frequent false-positive executions of the latter (inhibition failures). The absence of inhibitory demands in dual-action trials can render performance less error-prone (and sometimes faster) than in single-action trials. In the present study, we investigated the temporal dynamics of inhibitory control difficulties by varying the preparation time (for simultaneous action execution and inhibition). In two experiments, participants responded to a single peripheral visual target either with an eye movement toward it (Single Saccade), with a spatially corresponding button press (Single Manual), or with both responses simultaneously (Dual Action) as indicated by a color cue. Preparation time was manipulated via the cue-stimulus interval within blocks (Experiment 1) and between blocks (Experiment 2). Overall, responses were faster with longer (vs. shorter) preparation time. Crucially, however, our results reveal the exact dynamics of how inhibition failures (and thus dual-action benefits) in both response modalities substantially decrease with longer preparation, even though the cue did not contain information regarding the fully specified response that needed to be inhibited (i.e., its direction). These results highlight the role of sufficient preparation time not only for efficient action execution but also for concurrent inhibitory performance. The study contradicts the idea that inhibition can only be exerted globally or on the level of a fully specified response. Instead, it may also be directed at effector system representations or all associated responses, suggesting a highly flexible targeting of inhibitory control in cognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Color Differentiation of Digital Risks in Teacher Education

Introduction. At the present stage of education digital transformation, the urgent task is being addressed to train educators who are ready to meet the challenges and risks of a changing and unstable digital world. Digital risks differentiating and adjusting the course of digital learning for future educators constitute the study problem and goal. The paper draws attention to the issues of digital transformation in the educational system carried out under conditions of uncertainty, as well as ways and opportunities to adjust the course of digital learning, ensuring the readiness of future teachers for the changes that are coming in the near and distant future. Materials and Methods. Leading research methods: system analysis of digital risks in teacher education, scenario modeling of network interactions and digital learning in basic risk situations, pedagogical experiment. The dynamic set of analytical and predictive judgments of future teachers about the possibilities of overcoming risk situations constitute the experimental materials. In research, digital risks are differentiated by three definable parameters: subjective sense of danger, relative risk and probability of threat. Results. The algorithmic model provides risk classification features and color codes. Their influence on the choice of safe behavior strategies in basic risk situations associated with networking and digital learning is described. The study reveals the authorʼs idea of risks color differentiation, which in this paper is illustrated by examples of teachers’ professional activities in networking and digital learning situations. The paper practical significance lies in pedagogical influences of algorithmic model approbation in risks situations of different danger levels: especially dangerous, moderate and underestimated risks in the dynamic digital space. It is concluded that actions in danger situations can be effectively regulated by light signals similar to a modified traffic light. Each signal can be matched with an individual scenario included a stereotypical behavior algorithms set that is assigned considering the real danger and subjective feeling on it, the basic scenario and prediction corresponding to it. The survey final measurements showed that the future teachers who passed the experimental training significantly decreased their subjective sense of danger. Discussion and Conclusion. The pedagogical experiment reveals that the study of risk situations, pedagogical activity scenario modeling and orientation to color cues in typical risk situations reduce the teachers’ uncertainty sense and give positive shifts in teachers’ training.

Exploring Tuning Characteristics of Ventral Stream’s Neurons for Few-Shot Image Classification

Human has the remarkable ability of learning novel objects by browsing extremely few examples, which may be attributed to the generic and robust feature extracted in the ventral stream of our brain for representing visual objects. In this sense, the tuning characteristics of ventral stream's neurons can be useful prior knowledge to improve few-shot classification. Specifically, we computationally model two groups of neurons found in ventral stream which are respectively sensitive to shape cues and color cues. Then we propose the hierarchical feature regularization method with these neuron models to regularize the backbone of a few-shot model, thus making it produce more generic and robust features for few-shot classification. In addition, to simulate the tuning characteristic that neuron firing at a higher rate in response to foreground stimulus elements compared to background elements, which we call belongingness, we design a foreground segmentation algorithm based on the observation that the foreground object usually does not appear at the edge of the picture, then multiply the foreground mask with the backbone of few-shot model. Our method is model-agnostic and can be applied to few-shot models with different backbones, training paradigms and classifiers.

On the relationship between rhythm-based temporal expectations and endogenous spatial attention in simple reaction-time tasks

IntroductionRecent evidence suggests that the temporal expectations afforded by a regular rhythmic structure operate independently from endogenous spatial attention in simple reaction-time tasks. The most common manipulation followed in previous studies consisted of presenting a target stimulus either “in-time” or “out-of-time” (earlier or later) with a preceding rhythm. However, contrary to the proposal of entrainment models predicting a behavioral advantage for in-time compared to both early and late targets, responses were still faster for late targets, according to the so-called “foreperiod effect”. This finding makes it difficult to fully disentangle the impact of rhythm and the benefits afforded by the passage of time on the relationship between rhythm-based temporal and endogenous spatial attention.MethodsTo shed more light on this issue, we combined a spatial orienting task with a rhythmic manipulation, in which two placeholders flanking the fixation cross flickered at either a regular or irregular pace. Spatial orienting to the target location was deployed by symbolic color cues that were displayed independently of the rhythm (independent cues) or were integrated with the temporal rhythmic cues (integrated cues). Crucially, for both independent and integrated cues, and for regular and irregular rhythms, the interval between the rhythm and the target (i.e., the foreperiod) was kept fixed in Experiments 1–3 to control for the foreperiod effect, while the effect of foreperiod was explored in Experiment 4.ResultsResults showed a more beneficial effect of rhythms with independent cues as compared to integrated cues. Additionally, the benefit of rhythms was slightly but significantly larger at valid, compared to invalid, spatial locations, regardless of the foreperiod.DiscussionOur results extend previous studies by showing that interactive effects of rhythms and endogenous spatial attention may emerge in low-demanding detection tasks.

Imagined object files: Visual imagery produces partial repetition costs where perception does not.

The present study explored whether object (or event) files can be formed that integrate color imagery and perceptual location features. To assess this issue, a cue-target procedure was used whereby color imagery was cued to be generated at a particular location in space, which was then followed by a perceptual color discrimination task. Partial repetition costs (PRCs) were then measured by varying the overlap of the color and location features of the cue and target to evaluate whether an object/event file was formed. Robust PRCs were observed when imagery was generated at a location, supporting the idea that imagery and perception can be incorporated into a common event file. It was also revealed that the PRC effects for perceptual color cues were tenuous-they did not reach significance in the present study. Overall, the present study indicates that imagery can produce stronger binding effects than perception, offering important insights into the role that active engagement plays in the formation of object/event files.

A Long Night of Sciences: Explore your senses - Color, shape and flavors

Color cues, food forms, different tastes and flavors influence food choice decisions. Hence, they are of interest for caterers and chefs. The series of sensory experiences described here was conducted with 133 curious guests to test how color, form and flavor can be used to increase demand of more sustainable dishes. Based on scientific literature, six experiences one for each of our taste qualities (salty, bitter, umami, fatty, sour, sweet) were offered in the form of food samples cooked by a German two-star Michelin chef. Results reveal the sensory interest of participants, but also limits when offering sustainable dishes out-of-home.