Projects
Color-blind camouflage in octopusAvailable projects (masters and PhD)
If you would like to know more contact Misha at m.vorobyev@auckland.ac.nz.
Colour vision of reef fish
Reef fish use colour for both camouflage and advertisement. The aim of the project is to reveal the relationship between colour vision of reef fish and fish colours using the tropical trigger fish (Picasso fish) as a model system.
Color blind camouflage in octopus
Evolution of vision and of animal body patterns is driven largely by an animal’s need to find food and avoid being eaten 11,2.This arms race led to the rise of cryptic animals with well-developed vision to guide changeable camouflage 3,4,5,6. Octopus has superb vision and it has exceptionally refined abilities to camouflage on any background – it matches texture and colour of backgrounds in a fraction of a second5,7–11 (https://youtu.be/JSq8nghQZqA). However, octopus has only one type of visual pigment and therefore should not be able to see and match colour12,13.
Color blind camouflage in octopus
Evolution of vision and of animal body patterns is driven largely by an animal’s need to find food and avoid being eaten 11,2.This arms race led to the rise of cryptic animals with well-developed vision to guide changeable camouflage 3,4,5,6. Octopus has superb vision and it has exceptionally refined abilities to camouflage on any background – it matches texture and colour of backgrounds in a fraction of a second5,7–11 (https://youtu.be/JSq8nghQZqA). However, octopus has only one type of visual pigment and therefore should not be able to see and match colour12,13.
Color blind camouflage in octopus
Evolution of vision and of animal body patterns is driven largely by an animal’s need to find food and avoid being eaten 11,2.This arms race led to the rise of cryptic animals with well-developed vision to guide changeable camouflage 3,4,5,6. Octopus has superb vision and it has exceptionally refined abilities to camouflage on any background – it matches texture and colour of backgrounds in a fraction of a second5,7–11 (https://youtu.be/JSq8nghQZqA). However, octopus has only one type of visual pigment and therefore should not be able to see and match colour12,13.
Colours, emotions and culture
Colours are often associated with emotions. To what degree is the association between colours and emotions is innate and determined by human biology? How does culture influence the emotional meaning of colour? To answer these questions, the candidate will study the association between colour and emotions in people from different cultural background.
Colour harmony
The aesthetic appeal of colours depends on how they are combined. The rules of colour combination are thought to be analogous to harmony of sounds in music and are called ‘colour harmony’. While many schemes of colour harmony have been proposed, the validity of such rules have rarely been confirmed in psychophysical experiments. The aim of this project is study the rules of colour harmony using colour stimuli presented in controlled conditions.
Colour perception in colour deficient people
Approximately 6% of male population is colour deficient. Often colour deficient people do not realise that their colour perception is different from that of colour normal observers until they undergo special tests. The aim of this project is to reveal the mechanisms which allow colour deficient people to compensate for their inability to see some colours and even to be superior to colour normal people in some visual tasks.