In this article, we present the results of analysis by two different methods for representing information in reflectance spectra of Munsell standard chips that relates to their appearance. The spectrum of a chip j is denoted as r(j mu) where mu represents wavelength lambda from 430 to 660 nm with 1 nm intervals. The spectrum of light reflected from a chip j under D65 is r(j mu) X e(mu) where e(mu) represents the spectral power distribution of D65 illumination. In one method, singular value decomposition is applied to a matrix of (r(j mu) X e(mu)). Combining results of this analysis with results of human assessment experiments, we obtain four curves xi(0 alpha)(H) that represent principal hue components alpha in Munsell Hue, alpha = redness, yellowness, greenness, and blueness (Fig. 6). The other method is multiple regression of each (r(j mu) X e(mu)) to activities of three kinds of cones in the retina. From this analysis, we obtain three curves B-q(H) that represent relative involvements of q = L, M, S cone activities in determining the appearance of Munsell Hue (Fig. 10). Two sets of curves, xi(0 alpha)(H), and B-q(H), are compared with predictions from a model of higher order color mechanism (Fig. 12) that has been proposed on the basis of experiments with light stimuli of wavelength lambda. It is found that xi(0 alpha)(H), and B-q(H) constructed from broadband spectra of Munsell chips are interpretable in terms of this model. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.