AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Opponent process theory helps explain aspects of color vision. The activation of one type of cone cell leads to the inhibition of the other two. This opponent process is thought to be responsible for our perception of color and explains why people experience afterimages.

Detailed explanation-2: -Opponent-process theory explains how staring at colored stimulus (i.e. colored photo) produces a negative afterimage which has complimentary colors. Continuous exposure to the colors you see in the colored stimulus wears out the cells that respond to those colors.

Detailed explanation-3: -Opponent-process theory = the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green.

Detailed explanation-4: -The opponent process theory adds to the trichromatic theory. Along with three main cones, within the brain are specialized color receptor pairs. The three color pairs include red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white. This theory explains afterimages and color blindness.