  While our understanding of the way single neurons process chromatic stimuli
in the early visual pathway has advanced significantly in recent years, we do
not yet know how these cells interact to form stable representations of hue.
Drawing on physiological studies, we offer a dynamical model of how the primary
visual cortex tunes for color, hinged on intracortical interactions and
emergent network effects. After detailing the evolution of network activity
through analytical and numerical approaches, we discuss the effects of the
model's cortical parameters on the selectivity of the tuning curves. In
particular, we explore the role of the model's thresholding nonlinearity in
enhancing hue selectivity by expanding the region of stability, allowing for
the precise encoding of chromatic stimuli in early vision. Finally, in the
absence of a stimulus, the model is capable of explaining hallucinatory color
perception via a Turing-like mechanism of biological pattern formation.
