Color Patches Research Articles

The associative underpinnings of negative urgency and its role in problematic gambling behavior

BackgroundNegative urgency –the tendency to lose control under the influence of strong negative emotions– has been proposed to be a sign of malfunctioning emotion regulation mechanisms, and to contribute to severity and complications of gambling disorder and other externalizing behaviors. Aims and method: This study is aimed at (1) testing whether negative urgency is linked to resistance to extinction in an emotional associative learning task in a sample of 70 participants, 65 of whom were active gamblers (with emotional pictures as unconditioned stimuli, and color patches as conditioned stimuli [CS]); and (b) exploring the link between these two variables (negative urgency and resistance to emotional extinction) and clinical manifestations of gambling (severity and craving). Mixed-effects generalized models were used to analyze trial-by-trial predictive responses during acquisition and extinction for erotic, disgusting, and gambling-related pictures. Results and conclusions: Acquisition of CS-elicited responses remained unaffected by negative urgency, whereas extinction was hampered in individuals with high negative urgency, especially for CSs associated with erotic and gambling-related pictures. Moreover, negative urgency predicted higher craving scores, and these predicted more severe gambling-related symptoms. This finding resonates with the well-known involvement of emotion regulation processes in craving control. However, extinction was not independently related to craving. This lacking effect suggests that negative urgency is a broad construct, and although some of its components are directly related to faulty extinction (and generalized emotion dysregulation), such components are not the same negative urgency shares with difficulties of craving control.

Pixel-wise Colorimetric Characterization based on U-Net Convolutional Network

Abstract In this article, we present a U-Net convolutional network for solving insufficient data problems of color patches in colorimetric characterization. The U-Net network uses data augmentation annotated over 6,885,222 colors, 32,027,200 color patches, and 2,098 billion pixels directly from only eight standard colorimetric images of ISO 12640 (CIELAB/SCID). By applying the U-Net network trained on big augmented data, the pixel-wise colorimetric characterization is implemented from digitalized red, green, blue image samples to ISO 12640 (CIELAB/SCID) CIELAB standard colorimetric images. The performance efficiency of the U-Net network is superior to that of the convolutional neural network on both training and validating epochs. Moreover, pixel-wise color colorimetric characterization is achieved using the intelligent machine vision of U-Net integrated with a data augmentation technique to overcome the drawback of complex color patches and labor-intensive tasks. This study might improve colorimetric characterization technology with a resolution of 2560-by-2048 for over 4 million pixels. The results reveal that U-net with pixel-wise regression enhances the precise colors of images, taking detail and realism to a new level.

Assessing the Role of Emotional Mediation in Explaining Crossmodal Correspondences Involving Musical Stimuli.

A wide variety of crossmodal correspondences, defined as the often surprising connections that people appear to experience between simple features, attributes, or dimensions of experience, either physically present or else merely imagined, in different sensory modalities, have been demonstrated in recent years. However, a number of crossmodal correspondences have also been documented between more complex (i.e., multi-component) stimuli, such as, for example, pieces of music and paintings. In this review, the extensive evidence supporting the emotional mediation account of the crossmodal correspondences between musical stimuli (mostly pre-recorded short classical music excerpts) and visual stimuli, including colour patches through to, on occasion, paintings, is critically evaluated. According to the emotional mediation account, it is the emotional associations that people have with stimuli that constitutes one of the fundamental bases on which crossmodal associations are established. Taken together, the literature that has been published to date supports emotional mediation as one of the key factors underlying the crossmodal correspondences involving emotionally-valenced stimuli, both simple and complex.

Modeling continuous outcome color decisions with the circular diffusion model: Metric and categorical properties.

The circular diffusion model is extended to provide a theory of the speed and accuracy of continuous outcome color decisions and used to characterize eye-movement decisions about the hues of noisy color patches in an isoluminant, equidiscriminability color space. Heavy-tailed distributions of decision outcomes were found with high levels of chromatic noise, similar to those found in visual working memory studies with high memory loads. Decision times were longer for less accurate decisions, in agreement with the slow error property typically found in difficult 2-choice tasks. Decision times were shorter, and responses were more accurate in parts of the space corresponding to nameable color categories, although the number and locations of the categories varied among participants. We show that these findings can be predicted by a theory of across-trial variability in the quality of the evidence entering the decision process, represented mathematically by the drift rate of the diffusion process. The heavy-tailed distributions of decision outcomes and the slow-error pattern can be predicted by either of 2 models of drift rate. One model is based on encoding failures and the other is based on a nonlinear transformation of the stimulus space. Both models predict highly inaccurate stimulus representations on some trials, leading to heavy-tailed distributions and slow errors. The color-category effects were successfully modeled as stimulus biases in a similarity-choice framework, in which the drift rate is the vector sum of the encoded metric and categorical representations of the stimulus. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Estimation of colour volumes as concave hypervolumes using α‐shapes

Abstract Organisms often display multiple colour patches and for many analyses, it may be useful to take into account all these patches at the same time, and reconstruct the colour volume of the organisms. Stoddard and Prum (2008, The American Naturalist, 171, 755) proposed to use convex hulls to reconstruct the colour volume of a species. Convex hull volume has since then often been used as an index of colourfulness, and the intersection of multiple convex hulls is used to study the colour similarity between two objects. In this article, I outline the limitations of convex hulls in this context. In particular, multiple studies have reported that the convex hull overestimates the actual colour volume. I argued for the use of a more general tool, developed as a more flexible extension of the convex hulls: α‐shapes. Depending on the parameter α, α‐shapes can reconstruct concave (i.e. non‐convex) volumes with voids or pockets that are better suited for the estimation of colour volumes. To determine the optimal value of the parameter α, I point out two expected properties of multidimensional trait spaces, which translate into two conditions providing a lower and upper bound on α, and I propose technical tools to identify the α value satisfying these two conditions. Using colour data from the whole bird community from the biological station of the Nouragues, French Guiana, I show that using α‐shapes rather than convex hulls results in possibly major differences in the estimation of the colour volume. I discuss possible future developments of this new framework in both colour science and other areas of ecology dealing with multidimensional trait spaces, such as community ecology where α‐shape volumes could serve as a replacement for the functional richness FRic, or morphometrics.

Ontogenetic changes in the ventral colouration of post metamorphic Elachistocleis haroi Pereyra, Akmentins, Laufer, Vaira, 2013 (Anura: Microhylidae)

Abstract Ontogenetic colour change (OCC) is defined as the progressive and non-reversible process of changes in colouration of organisms associated with their development. Among the many vertebrate groups, amphibians are particularly impressive for their strikingly wide variety of colours, colour patterns, and signals, whose evolutionary and ecological significance have been poorly studied. Elachistocleis comprises 18 species currently separated into two main groups based on their ventral colour pattern: one immaculate and the other with specks and/or colour patches. Elachistocleis haroi is a small-sized species within the immaculate venter group, distributed in the Yungas and Dry Chaco ecoregions from which little information is known. In a comprehensive sampling of post-metamorphic individuals of E. haroi at different stages of development we identified a significant variation in ventral colour pattern, which could denote a progressive filling of yellow colour according to an ontogenetic pattern. To test this hypothesis, we analysed 39 post-metamorphic individuals of E. haroi at different stages of development with imaging procedures. We found that yellow spots and their intensity are significantly related to snout-vent length, as major expansion of colour on the sides, gular region and male chest, as almost no development on the belly. We briefly discuss our findings in relation to sexual display and predation avoidance. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis of post-metamorphic OCC in ventral colouration in the genus Elachistocleis.

Discolouring the Amazon Rainforest: how deforestation is affecting butterfly coloration

Butterflies are among the most colourful organisms in the world and colour plays a central role in many of their life-history strategies. However, the efficacy of coloration strategies in these and other animals could be affected by sudden environmental changes, including anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat loss and fragmentation. Here we investigate the effect of forest disturbance gradients on the colours of fruit-feeding butterflies in the Amazon Rainforest. The disturbance gradients tested represented habitat-size (continuous primary forests versus forest fragments of 1, 10 and 100 ha) and succession gradients (continuous primary forests, 30 year old secondary forests, and three year old early successional forests). Using digital image analysis, we obtained intrinsic measures of butterfly colour patches corresponding to hue, saturation, brightness, in addition to measures of the contrast among patches and of the overall wing-colour diversity corresponding to 220 individuals, belonging to 60 species. Our results showed that butterflies in the secondary forest and continuous primary forest are more colourful than those found in early succession and fragments of forests. Individuals occurring in forests of early succession showed higher average values of hue and saturation, but lower brightness. Accompanying changes in colour composition, wing-colour diversity among species was lower in human-disturbed habitats, such as those of early forest succession and secondary forest. Forest fragments have smaller effects on butterfly colour composition, indicating that well-structured forest habitats can house butterfly assemblages with more diverse phenotypic features and colours. We show how high deforestation rates in recent years is linked with negative changes in functional coloration strategies (e.g. camouflage, warning colours), something that has to date been poorly explored or demonstrated for butterflies. Specifically, human interference has apparently placed butterflies under strong selection for lower diversity in their colours and range of defensive strategies. Those species that are most colourful are the first to be locally extinguished, likely due to removal of native vegetation and increased exposure to predators, and more broadly owing to inhospitable environmental conditions. This illustrates an accelerated loss of local fauna and a “discolouration” of the Amazonian butterflies due to anthropogenic impacts.

Colour fragmentation measurement in a historic area: Using Shanghai Old Town as an example

AbstractUnder the background of urban renewal protection and old city transformation, problems such as clutter, distortion, and disorder appear in the historical style area. These problems have greatly impacted and damaged the cultural heritage and historical research of the style area. To carry out the urban renewal movement more reasonably, this article selects the historical features of the Old Town of Shanghai for empirical research, uses the colour patch concept and fragmentation index for a quantitative analysis, and divides the study area fragmentation level. The study found that the number and types of colour patches in the Old Town are many, and the yellow system is highly fragmented in the Old Town, which means that the human environment in the colour style area is lost. The main reasons are the rise of modernist architecture and new materials. Three aspects are involved in the widespread use of policy and out‐of‐control management of the policy; therefore, attention should be paid to the updating of future historical style areas: protecting the authenticity of colours, maintaining colour integrity, and continually retaining colour memories in cities.

Cathodal tDCS stimulation of left anterior temporal lobe eliminates cross-category color discrimination response time advantage

The linguistic category-advantage in color perception refers to better discrimination performance for stimuli that belong to different categories (e.g., green vs. blue) than equidistant stimuli from the same category (e.g., blue). Despite the robust nature of category-advantage in color perception, the related cognitive and neural mechanisms are not fully understood. Some views attribute this effect to early alteration of visual processing of color while others attribute it to post-perceptual conceptual processing. The current study investigated the causal role of the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL), as a post-perceptual semantic hub, in categorical color perception. We modulated the activity of the left ATL via cathodal tDCS or sham stimulation (within-subject) while participants were discriminating between successive presentations of color patches. Without stimulation, we found a category-advantage effect in both accuracy and response times. The inhibition of left ATL eliminated the category-advantage effect in terms of RTs but not accuracies. Our results point at the causal role of ATL in categorical color perception and provide indirect support for a post-perceptual processing account of this robust phenomenon.

Hereditary Character of Photonics Structure in Pachyrhynchus sarcitis Weevils: Color Changes via One Generation Hybridization

AbstractPachyrhynchus sarcitis weevils are flightless weevils characterized by colored patches of scales on their dark elytra. The vivid colors of such patches result from the reflection of differently oriented 3D photonic crystals within their scales. The results show that hybrid P. sarcitis, the first filial generation of two P. sarcitis populations from Lanyu Island (Taiwan) and Babuyan Island (Philippines), mixes the color of its ancestors by tuning the photonic structure in its scales. A careful spectroscopical and anatomical analysis of the weevils in the phylogeny reveals the hereditary characteristics of the photonic crystals within their scales in terms of lattice constant, orientation and domain size. Monitoring how structural coloration is inherited by offspring highlights the versatility of photonic structures to completely redesign the optical response of living organisms. Such finding sheds light onto the evolution and development mechanisms of structural coloration in Pachyrhynchus weevils and provides inspiration for the design of visual appearance in artificial photonic materials.

Hybridization and transgressive exploration of colour pattern and wing morphology in Heliconius butterflies.

Hybridization can generate novel phenotypes distinct from those of parental lineages, a phenomenon known as transgressive trait variation. Transgressive phenotypes might negatively or positively affect hybrid fitness, and increase available variation. Closely related species of Heliconius butterflies regularly produce hybrids in nature, and hybridization is thought to play a role in the diversification of novel wing colour patterns despite strong stabilizing selection due to interspecific mimicry. Here, we studied wing phenotypes in first- and second-generation hybrids produced by controlled crosses between either two co-mimetic species of Heliconius or between two nonmimetic species. We quantified wing size, shape and colour pattern variation and asked whether hybrids displayed transgressive wing phenotypes. Discrete traits underlain by major-effect loci, such as the presence or absence of colour patches, generate novel phenotypes. For quantitative traits, such as wing shape or subtle colour pattern characters, hybrids only exceed the parental range in specific dimensions of the morphological space. Overall, our study addresses some of the challenges in defining and measuring phenotypic transgression for multivariate traits and our data suggest that the extent to which transgressive trait variation in hybrids contributes to phenotypic diversity depends on the complexity and the genetic architecture of the traits.

Flash behavior in mammals?

Conspicuous coloration in animals has many possible functions including signaling to conspecifics, or predator deterrence through confusion, intimidation, and duping; the last includes flash behavior where predators are deceived into looking for conspicuous cues exhibited in flight but that are hidden when the animal comes to rest. In an effort to see if flash behavior occurs in mammals, we made predictions about situations where conspicuous coloration (as based on human assessment) might occur in artiodactyls and lagomorphs, and other predictions as to where such coloration might be found under an intraspecific signaling hypothesis. Using phylogenetically controlled analyses, we found that across species of artiodactyls, conspicuous rumps are more likely to have evolved in larger-sized group-living species supporting an intraspecific signaling function; this was not replicated in lagomorphs. Examining those artiodactyls that can facultatively expose color patches (putative flash behavior), we discovered that this trait occurred in artiodactyls that are solitary or living in very small groups irrespective of their body size. It is therefore possible that species such as white- and black-tailed deer, which display white rumps and tails during pursuit but hide them when stationary, are using flash behavior to confuse the predator into looking for the wrong object and thereby avoid detection and suggests that this form of antipredator defense in mammals needs greater attention. We found no effects of group size or body mass on conspicuous tail or ear markings in these taxa. Many mammals have conspicuous markings on their appendages and hindquarters, the function of which is mostly unknown. We matched these markings in rabbits, hares, and pikas and in bovids and cervids to both body size and group size across species. We found that conspicuous rumps are found in group living ungulates but when we separated these into conspicuous hindquarters always on display or that could be hidden, we found that hidden markings were principally found in species living alone or in very small groups irrespective of their body size. These species may expose conspicuous patches during flight but hide them at rest fooling the predator into searching for the wrong object, a relatively newly researched defense mechanism called flash behavior.

Nb-Ta-rare earth element mineralization in titaniferous laterite cappings over Sung Valley ultramafic rocks in Meghalaya, India

The present paper reports a significant amount of Nb-Ta-REE in titaniferous laterite (TL) cappings developed over ultramafic rocks of the Sung Valley ultramafic-alkaline-carbonatite complex, Meghalaya, India. These TL cappings were observed in the vicinity of Mawiong and Lumkynthang villages, East Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya, India. The TL cappings are highly ferruginous having ochre red and pink colours with patches of chocolate brown colour. TL cappings, having thickness of 1 m to 5 m, are matrix-supported and exhibit oolitic texture. The distribution pattern, normalized to chondrite exhibits a strong enrichment of light rare earth elements (LREE) with a negative Eu anomaly. The total REE (REE + Y + Sc) in the TL ranges from 0.28% to 1.10% with an average of 0.49%. XRD analysis identified the REE minerals florencite-(Ce), florencite-(La), florencite-(Nd), and kobeite-(Y). These minerals were further supported by the Ce, Ti, Fe, and P peaks obtained by EDX analysis. The oxide concentrations in TL are TiO2 (14.56–34.01 wt%), Al2O3 (11.71–29.82 wt%), and Fe2O3(t) (10.12–37.62 wt%). The other significant trace elements identified are (in ppm): Cr (166–1089), Ni (38–599), V (644–3329), Sc (422–747), Nb (267–1971), Ta (15–201), Zr (440–1954), and Hf (27–88). The positive correlation of Al2O3 with REE suggests an increase in REE concentration with increasing bauxitization in TL. This study is expected to influence the exploration of other alkaline-carbonatite complexes that have laterite cappings.

High contrast yellow mosaic patterns are prey attractants for orb‐weaving spiders

Abstract Many animals improve their foraging success by producing signals that exploit the sensory biases of potential prey, but the specific properties that make these sensory traps effective remain unclear. We combine field experiments with phylogenetic comparative analyses to investigate the visual luring properties of different signal designs in web‐building spiders. Our field experiments used cardboard spider models to examine the effects of area of colour patches, colour and pattern on the foraging success of the colourful giant wood spider, Nephila pilipes. These experiments revealed that both the colour (yellow) and pattern (yellow and black mosaic) are essential for luring prey in a high ambient light environment. We subsequently used phylogenetic comparative analyses to demonstrate an evolutionary association between prey viewing environment and spider ventral signal among 63 species of orb‐weavers from 53 genera. Combined, our data show that (a) the colour of the bright body parts of orb‐weavers is essential for both diurnal and nocturnal prey attraction, whereas the pattern and area of colour patches are important for diurnal foraging and (b) the evolution of these visual lures is associated with the viewing environment, specifically ambient light intensity. We conclude that the effectiveness of colour luring might be a major driver of the convergent evolution of yellow mosaic patterns in phylogenetically divergent orb‐weavers. Our discoveries indicate that prey colour preferences and signal efficacy play a significant role in the evolution of visually mediated prey‐luring systems. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Estimation of the Oxidative Deterioration of Turbine Oil Using Membrane Patch Color

Lubricating oils degrade into two main products: oxidation products and solid particles. Oxidation products, called varnish, of turbine oils for power generation have become a particularly serious problem in recent years. The first step in determining the potential to produce varnish is to determine the remaining life of the antioxidant in the oil, but even though turbine oil may have antioxidants of sufficient longevity, varnish problems still occur frequently. Accordingly, to prevent varnish, it is necessary to diagnose oil oxidation products. Thus, the authors have developed a diagnostic method using membrane patch color, but the relationship between membrane patch color and the remaining life of turbine oils has yet to be clarified. This paper investigates a new method for estimating the oxidative degradation of turbine oils that uses membrane patch color and the dry turbine oxidation stability test (dry TOST) based on oxidation products and the remaining life of the turbine oils. Sample oils were prepared and degraded by oxidation in the laboratory using a dry TOST apparatus, and the membrane patch color was measured using a colorimetric patch analyzer (CPA). The relationship between membrane patch color and the rotating pressure vessel oxidation test (RPVOT) residual rate was then investigated. The results show that the new estimation method using the CPA and dry TOST is able to monitor the decrease of the RPVOT residual rate from the early stages of oxidative deterioration.

Late disruption of central visual field disrupts peripheral perception of form and color.

Evidence from neuroimaging and brain stimulation studies suggest that visual information about objects in the periphery is fed back to foveal retinotopic cortex in a separate representation that is essential for peripheral perception. The characteristics of this phenomenon have important theoretical implications for the role fovea-specific feedback might play in perception. In this work, we employed a recently developed behavioral paradigm to explore whether late disruption to central visual space impaired perception of color. In the first experiment, participants performed a shape discrimination task on colored novel objects in the periphery while fixating centrally. Consistent with the results from previous work, a visual distractor presented at fixation ~100ms after presentation of the peripheral stimuli impaired sensitivity to differences in peripheral shapes more than a visual distractor presented at other stimulus onset asynchronies. In a second experiment, participants performed a color discrimination task on the same colored objects. In a third experiment, we further tested for this foveal distractor effect with stimuli restricted to a low-level feature by using homogenous color patches. These two latter experiments resulted in a similar pattern of behavior: a central distractor presented at the critical stimulus onset asynchrony impaired sensitivity to peripheral color differences, but, importantly, the magnitude of the effect was stronger when peripheral objects contained complex shape information. These results show a behavioral effect consistent with disrupting feedback to the fovea, in line with the foveal feedback suggested by previous neuroimaging studies.

Bioinspired structural color patch with anisotropic surface adhesion.

Patch plays an important role in clinical medicine for its broad applications in tissue repair and regeneration. Here, inspired by the diverse adhesion, anti-adhesion, and responsive structural color phenomena in biological interfaces, we present a hybrid hydrogel film with an adhesive polydopamine (PDA) layer and an anti-adhesive poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) layer in an inverse opal scaffold. It was demonstrated that the resultant hydrogel film could serve as a functional tissue patch with an excellent adhesion property on one surface for repairing injured tissues and an anti-adhesion property on the other surface for preventing adverse adhesion. Besides, because of the responsive structural color, the patch was imparted with self-reporting mechanical capability, which could provide a real-time color-sensing feedback to monitor the heartbeat activity. Moreover, the catechol groups on PDA imparted the patch with high tissue adhesiveness and self-healing capability in vivo. These features give the bioinspired patch high potential in biomedical applications.

Color lures in orb-weaving spiders: a meta-analysis

AbstractLures are deceptive strategies that exploit sensory biases in prey, usually mimicking a prey’s mate or food item. Several predators exploit plant–pollinator systems, where visual signals are an essential part of interspecific interactions. Many diurnal, and even nocturnal, orb-web spiders present conspicuous body coloration or bright color patches. These bright colors are regarded as color-based lures that exploit biases present in insect visual systems, possibly mimicking flower colors. The prey attraction hypothesis was proposed more than 20 years ago to explain orb-web spider coloration. Although most data gathered so far has corroborated the predictions of the prey attraction hypothesis, there are several studies that refute these predictions. We conducted a multilevel phylogenetic meta-analysis to assess the magnitude of the effect of conspicuous orb-web spider body coloration on prey attraction. We found a positive effect in favor of the prey attraction hypothesis; however, there was substantial heterogeneity between studies. Experimental designs comparing conspicuous spiders to painted spiders or empty webs did not explain between-studies heterogeneity. The lack of theoretical explanation behind the prey attraction hypothesis makes it challenging to address which components influence prey attraction. Future studies could evaluate whether color is part of a multicomponent signal and test alternative hypotheses for the evolution of spider colors, such as predator avoidance and thermoregulation.

Tone Mapping High Dynamic Range Images by Hessian Multiset Canonical Correlations

Tone mapping algorithms reproduce high dynamic range (HDR) images on low dynamic range images in the standard display devices such as LCD, CRT, projectors, and printers. In this paper, we propose a statistical clustering-based tone mapping technique that would be able to adapt the local content of an image as well as its color. At first, the HDR image is partitioned into many overlapped color patches and we disintegrate each color patch into three segments: patch mean, color variation and color structure. Then based on the color structure component, the extracted color patches are clustered into a number of clusters by k-means clustering technique. For each cluster, the statistical signal processing technique namely Hessian multi set canonical correlations (HesMCC) has been produced to ascertain the transform matrix. Moreover, the HesMCC are fundamentally utilized for performing the dimensionality reduction of patches and to form effective tone mapped images. Contrasting with the current strategies, the procedures in the proposed clustering-based strategy can better adapt image color and its local structures by exploiting the image in the worldwide repetition. Experimental results show that the running time of the proposed method is less about 88.32%, 92%, 68.9%, and 29.4%, while comparing with other existing tone mapping methods.

Feeling Blue or Seeing Red? Similar Patterns of Emotion Associations With Colour Patches and Colour Terms.

For many, colours convey affective meaning. Popular opinion assumes that perception of colour is crucial to influence emotions. However, scientific studies test colour–emotion relationships by presenting colours as patches or terms. When using patches, researchers put great effort into colour presentation. When using terms, researchers have much less control over the colour participants think of. In this between-subjects study, we tested whether emotion associations with colour differ between terms and patches. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts, loading on valence, arousal, and power dimensions, with 12 colours presented as patches (n = 54) or terms (n = 78). We report high similarity in the pattern of associations of specific emotion concepts with terms and patches (r = .82), for all colours except purple (r = .−23). We also observed differences for black, which is associated with more negative emotions and of higher intensity when presented as a term than a patch. Terms and patches differed little in terms of valence, arousal, and power dimensions. Thus, results from studies on colour–emotion relationships using colour terms or patches should be largely comparable. It is possible that emotions are associated with colour concepts rather than particular perceptions or words of colour.