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2.5 Conclusions
By his universal colour theory, his ideas of visual information
processing and his model of colour mixture, Newton laid a solid
foundation for the further development of our understanding of
both cone and rod functions. All three contributions had profound
influences on later theory construction within vision research.
Obviously, without his basic assumption that white sunlight
consists of innumerable different rays, it would be impossible to
develop any adequate theory about the light reception mechanisms
in the retina.
Also, his theory about visual information processing (which
he himself considered highly speculative) had profound influence. In
fact, the suggestion that different colour-related processes behaved
independently of each other remained dominant for more than two
centuries, and the suggestion that sensory quality originated in the
brain and that the processes in the peripheral visual pathways only
differed quantitatively are still generally accepted.
The third major contribution (his ingenious model of colour
mixture, where he applied his principle of gravitation to describe
the colour-mixture data) paved the way for Maxwell's discovery of
the triplicity of colour vision. It also allowed the prediction that the
primary colour-related processes would behave independently of each
other in the light reception process. It is important to note, however,
that the colour-mixture data obtained did not prove Newton's assump-
tion that different colour-related processes remained independent of
each other during the whole journey from retina to brain as several
vision research workers later mistakenly believed (see Wright, 1946 ,
pp 146-152).
2.6 Young's colour theory: three instead
of seven primaries
Newton did not present any strong argument in support of his
assumption of seven primary colours and it was challenged by the
well-known fact that painters could produce any object colour by
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