Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Journal: i-Perception

Volume number: 8

Issue number: 6

ISSN: 2041-6695

Open access status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669517739635

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Abstract: 
We investigated several sensory and cognitive determinants of colour constancy across 40 illumination hues. In the first experiment, we measured colour naming for the illumination and for the colour induced by the illumination on the colorimetric grey. Results confirmed that the induced colours are approximately complementary to the colour of the illumination. In the second experiment, we measured colour constancy using achromatic adjustments. Average colour constancy was perfect under the blue daylight illumination and decreased in colour directions away from the blue daylight illumination due to undershooting and a strong blue bias. Apart from this blue bias, colour constancy was not related to illumination discrimination and to chromatic detection measured previously with the same setup and stimuli. We also observed a strong negative relationship between the degree of colour constancy and the consensus of naming the illumination colour. Constancy coincided with a low naming consensus, in particular because bluish illumination colours were sometimes seen as achromatic. Blue bias and category consensus alone explained >68%, and all determinants together explained >94% of the variance of achromatic adjustments. These findings suggest that colour constancy is optimised for blue daylight.

Harvard Citation style: Weiss, D., Witzel, C. and Gegenfurtner, K. (2017) Determinants of Colour Constancy and the Blue Bias, i-Perception, 8(6), Article 2041669517739635. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669517739635

APA Citation style: Weiss, D., Witzel, C., & Gegenfurtner, K. (2017). Determinants of Colour Constancy and the Blue Bias. i-Perception. 8(6), Article 2041669517739635. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041669517739635