Do different observers experience similar neural activity in response to the same color? Does color produce distinct response patterns in specific brain areas? To explore these inquiries, researchers at the University of Tübingen utilized existing knowledge of color responses from various observers’ brains to predict the colors an individual is perceiving based on their brain activity. By estimating general brain commonality and responding to achromatic, spatial stimuli, the authors successfully aligned disparate brain responses within a common response framework linked to the retina. In this framework, derived independently of specific color responses, the perceived color can be decoded across individuals, revealing distinct spatial color biases between regions.
Using a sample of male and female volunteers, Michael M. Bannert & Andreas Bartels examined whether spatial color biases are shared among human observers and whether these biases differ among various regions. Image credit: Vat Loai.
Employing functional MRI scans, researchers Michael Banert and Andreas Bartels from the University of Tübingen captured images of subjects’ brains while they viewed visual stimuli, identifying various signals related to red, green, and yellow colors.
Remarkably, the patterns of brain activity appeared similar among subjects who had not participated previously. This suggests that the colors perceived can be accurately predicted by comparing them to the brain images of other participants.
The representation of color in the brain proves to be much more consistent than previously believed.
While it was already feasible to identify the colors an individual observed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this was only applicable to the same brain.
“We aimed to investigate whether similar colors are encoded across different brains,” Dr. Banert stated.
“In other words, if we only have neuronal color signals from another person’s brain, can we predict the colors they’re perceiving?”
“It’s well established that different brains exhibit roughly similar functional structures.”
“For instance, specific areas are more active when viewing faces, bodies, or simply colors.”
During the color experiment, researchers employed specific classification algorithms to analyze fMRI data, systematically differentiating signals originating from the brains of various groups of individuals by color.
Subsequently, data from new subjects were utilized to ascertain the colors they were perceiving using neuronal signals.
To frame each brain’s orientation, scientists spatially mapped how they responded to stimuli at different locations within their visual field using fMRI measurements.
“At this stage, we did not incorporate colors to avoid any bias in our results—only black and white patterns,” Professor Bartels explained.
“By simply merging this mapping data with color information from another person’s brain, we ensured we correctly identified the ‘new’ brain activity related to what the person was observing at that moment.”
“I was surprised to discover that even subtle variations in individual colors show remarkable similarity across brain activity patterns in specific visual processing regions, something previously unknown.”
Spatial color coding in the brain is domain-specific and organized consistently among individuals.
“There must be functional or evolutionary factors contributing to this uniform development, but further clarification is needed,” the authors noted.
The study was published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience.
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Michael M. Bannert and Andreas Bartels. Large-scale color biases in the functional architecture of the retina are domain-specific and shared throughout the human brain. Journal of Neuroscience Published online on September 8th, 2025. doi: 10.1523/jneurosci.2717-20.2025
Source: www.sci.news
