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Neural timing and patterns of color vision

Abstract

Visual perception helps us navigate through the world full of sensory information. The method by which the neural system organizes and modulates information has been studied but still remains elusive. To investigate how our brain encodes sensory information, we targeted color since it is one of the rudimentary features of vision. Using event-related potential (ERP), we tested healthy participants with normal color vision and instructed them with tasks of viewing isoluminant colored squares while focusing on a certain color to press a button. Also, another task of viewing colored squares and graphemes was given while participants were focusing on a certain grapheme to focus. Results show that the brain has a distinct pattern for each color in regards to amplitude of potential after 60 ms of onset. Our results give a glimpse of V4 activation time as well as the existence of the braiǹs mechanism to encode colors. The encoding of color may be orchestrated by the activation of different V4 neurons, the frequencies of V4 neurons, or location of the V4 neurons. Also, our studies introduce a decoding difference between different compartments of the visual cortex; the color effect on potential amplitude and activation timing differs on different activation time windows. Between the external stimulus of light and the perception of color, distinct decoding mechanisms of color seem to occur in different compartments of the brain

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