Achromatic Visual Sensations
The Sun and its halo.
The Sun and its halo.

Definition: Any vision, sight or ocular experience that could loosely be described as grayish is called an achromatic visual sensation. These sensations are described using words like; gray, black, white, dark, bright, silvery, leaden, ashen, pale and so on.

achromatic.jpg
By the third hypothesis, the reference experience for achromatic sensation is seeing the Sun. So to make a binary description of an achromatic visual sensation, compare it to seeing the Sun. Report the result using one of the following algebraic statements.
  • If the two experiences are not comparable, then say that the sensation is not an achromatic visual sensation and express this as

\mbox{\fontsize{14}{18}\selectfont $ \delta_{w}=0 $}

  • If the sensation is like seeing the Sun, then say that it is white. Express this as

\mbox{\fontsize{14}{18}\selectfont $ \delta_{w}=+1 $}

  • If the sensation is not like seeing the Sun, then say that it is black and that

\mbox{\fontsize{14}{18}\selectfont $ \delta_{w}=-1 $}

  • If it is both like and not-like seeing the Sun, then it is a composite sensation and

\mbox{\fontsize{14}{18}\selectfont $ -1 < \delta_{w} < 1 $}

Page tags: achromatic black sun white
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