What are the two main theories that contribute to our perception of color vision?

The two main theories that contribute to our perception of color vision are the Trichromatic theory and Color opponency theory.

The Trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young and Hermann von Helmholtz, posits that the human eye has three types of receptors sensitive to different wavelengths of light: long (red), medium (green), and short (blue). These three types of cones work in conjunction to allow us to perceive a wide range of colors through the additive mixing of the three primary colors of light.

Color opponency theory, developed by Ewald Hering, complements the trichromatic theory by explaining how colors are perceived in relation to one another. This theory suggests that there are opposing pairs of colors: red versus green and blue versus yellow. The interaction between these pairs is responsible for differentiating colors and for phenomena such as afterimages, where staring at one color for an extended period causes the perception of its complementary color when looking away.

In combination, these theories provide a comprehensive understanding of how humans perceive color through both the mechanisms of the individual photoreceptors and the neural processing of color information in the visual system. Other options do not accurately represent these foundational theories in color vision.