Colour Vision: A Cognitive Lens

About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about the cognitive approach to understanding colour vision, focusing in particular on: (i) fMRI scans and their ability to record live brain activity while the recipient is performing a task; (ii) Semir Zeki’s use of fMRI and Mondrian images to assess the brain areas which are activated during the perception of colour; (iii) brain area ‘v4’ being identified as the region which is responsible for processing colour; (iv) the example of ‘Russian blues’ as a demonstration of the impact language can have on visual perception; (v) other examples of language features which predict differences in colour identification abilities.

About the lecturer

Dr Alex Mitchell is a teaching fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Dr Mitchell specialises in understanding human vision, specifically how what we see, as well as how changes in the brain caused by damage or neurodegeneration, affects how we interact with our world, using numerous brain-scanning technologies to complete her research, including fMRI and MEG. Some of Dr Mitchell's recent publications include 'Pseudoneglect is reliable across time but not task’' (2020), 'Assessment of visually guided reaching in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease: a cross-sectional study protocol' (2020), and 'Peripheral reaching in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment' (2022).