Received: 19 June 2018 Revised and accepted: 6 July 2018 DOI: 10.1002/col.22261 RESEARCH ARTICLE Unique hues and principal hues Mark D. Fairchild Program of Color Science/Munsell Color Science Abstract Laboratory, Rochester Institute of Technology, Integrated Sciences Academy, Rochester, This note examines the different concepts of encoding hue perception based on New York four unique hues (like NCS) or five principal hues (like Munsell). Various sources Correspondence of psychophysical and neurophysiological information on hue perception are Mark Fairchild, Rochester Institute of Technology, Integrated Sciences Academy, Program of Color reviewed in this context and the essential conclusion that is reached suggests there Science/Munsell Color Science Laboratory, are two types of hue perceptions being quantified. Hue discrimination is best quan- Rochester, NY 14623, USA. tified on scales based on five, equally spaced, principal hues while hue appearance Email:
[email protected] is best quantified using a system based on four unique hues as cardinal axes. Much more remains to be learned. KEYWORDS appearance, discrimination, hue, Munsell 1 | INTRODUCTION note that the NCS system was designed to specify colors and their relations according to the character of their perception For over a century, the Munsell Color System has been used (appearance) while Munsell was set up to create scales of to describe color appearance, specify color relations, teach equal color discrimination, or color difference (rather than color concepts, and inspire new uses of color. It is unique in perception). Perhaps that distinction can be used to explain the sense that its hue dimension is anchored by five principal the difference in number of principal/cardinal hues.