Your Brain Sees Color Even When You Don’t

This piece, by Onno Berkan, was published on 02/18/25. The original text, by Takashima et al., was published by the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience on 01/01/24.

This Radboud University study investigated how our brains process color information even when looking at black-and-white images of objects that typically have strong color associations. The researchers used objects like tomatoes and cacti, which have strong color associations, and showed them to participants as simple black line drawings while scanning their brains using fMRI.

The study explored three scenarios: participants had to name the object's color, name the object itself, or simply judge whether the object was natural or man-made. What makes this research particularly interesting is that even though the images were completely colorless, the brain's color-processing regions became active when viewing these objects.

One of the most striking findings was that the brain's color-sensitive areas (specifically the fusiform gyri) responded to these black-and-white images based on how important color is in identifying the object. For instance, when you see a black-and-white drawing of a tomato, your brain automatically activates the "red" processing areas, even though no red color is present in the image. This suggests that color processing is an integral part of object recognition– our brain's color processing is tied to the object's identity rather than just simple color associations.

The study also confirmed previous research showing that the brain regions involved in actually seeing colors are the same ones that become active when we merely think about or remember colors. This adds to our understanding of how the brain processes visual information. It suggests that our knowledge of objects includes their physical appearance and typical properties, even when those aren't visible.

Want to submit a piece? Or trying to write a piece and struggling? Check out the guides here!

Thank you for reading. Reminder: Byte Sized is open to everyone! Feel free to submit your piece. Please read the guides first though.

All submissions to berkan@usc.edu with the header “Byte Sized Submission” in Word Doc format please. Thank you!