Benham's top

Benham's top
A sample of a Benham's disk

Benham's top, also called Benham's disk, is named after the English toymaker Charles Benham, who, in 1895, sold a top painted with the pattern shown. When the disk is spun, arcs of pale color — called Fechner colors or pattern induced flicker colors (PIFCs) — are visible at different places on the disk. Not everyone sees the same colors.

The phenomenon is not entirely understood. One possible reason people see colors may be that the color receptors in the human eye respond at different rates to red, green, and blue. More specifically, the latencies of the center and the surrounding mechanisms differ for the different types of color-specific ganglion cells.

The phenomenon originates from neural activity in the retina and spatial interactions in the primary visual cortex, which processes pattern recognition.[1] Research indicates that the blue-yellow opponent process accounts for all the different PIFCs.[2]

Benham's top and other PIFCs are being researched for use as a diagnostic tool for diseases of the eye and the visual track. It has shown particular promise in detecting Optic neuritis.[3]

References

  1. ^ von Campenhausen C, Schramme J (1995). "100 years of Benham's top in colour science". Perception 24 (6): 695–717. doi:10.1068/p240695. PMID 7478909. 
  2. ^ Schramme J (1992). "Changes in pattern induced flicker colors are mediated by the blue-yellow opponent process". Vision Research 32 (11): 2129–34. doi:10.1016/0042-6989(92)90074-S. PMID 1304090. 
  3. ^ Pilz J, Marre E (1993). "Pattern-induced flicker colors. An ophthalmologic examination method (Article in German)". Ophthalmologe 90 (2): 148–54. PMID 8490297. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Benham's top —    Also known as Benham s disk, Benham s wheel, and artificial spectrum top. The eponym Benham s top refers to the British amateur scientist and toymaker Charles Edwin Benham (18601929), who in 1894 published an account in Nature describing a… …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • Benham's disk —    see Benham s top …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • Benham's wheel —    see Benham s top …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • Charles Benham — Charles Edwin Benham Born April 15, 1860(1860 04 15) Colchester, Essex, England Died April 1, 1929(1929 04 01 …   Wikipedia

  • artificial spectrum top —    see Benham s top …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • Chris Benham — Personal information Full name Christopher Charles Benham Born 24 March 1983 (1983 03 24) (age 28) Frimley, Surrey …   Wikipedia

  • Fechner's colours —    Also known as subjective colours, illusory colours, and flicker colours. The eponym Fechner s colours refers to the German psychologist Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801 1887), who in 1838 published an account involving the creation of illusory… …   Dictionary of Hallucinations

  • Fechner color — is an illusion of color seen when looking at certain rapidly changing or moving black and white patterns. They are also called pattern induced flicker colors (PIFCs). Not everyone sees the same colors.It is most commonly demonstrated with a… …   Wikipedia

  • Stroboscope — A stroboscope, also known as a strobe, is an instrument used to make a cyclically moving object appear to be slow moving, or stationary. The principle is used for the study of rotating, reciprocating, oscillating or vibrating objects. Machine… …   Wikipedia

  • Newton disc — A Newton disc is a disc with segments in rainbow colours. When the disc is rotated, the colors fade to white; In this way Isaac Newton demonstrated that white light is a combination of the seven different colours found in a rainbow. A Newton Disc …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”