GUEST EDITORIAL - COLOR IN A LARGER PERSPECTIVE - THE REBIRTH OF GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY

This overview takes the reader from the classical contrast and assimil ation studies of the past to today's colour research, in a broad sense , with its renewed emphasis on the phenomenological qualities of visua l perception. It shows how the shift in paradigm from local to global effects in single-unit recordings prompted a reappraisal of appearance in visual experiments, not just in colour, but in the perception of m otion, texture, and depth as well. Gestalt ideas placed in the context of modern concepts are shown to inspire psychophysicists, neurophysio logists, and computational vision scientists alike. Feedforward, horiz ontal interactions, and feedback are discussed as potential neuronal m echanisms to account for phenomena such as uniform surfaces, filling-i n, and grouping arising from processes beyond the classical receptive field. A look forward towards future developments in the field of figu re-ground segregation (Gestalt formation) concludes the article.