Measurements of colour constancy by using a forced-choice matching technique

Colour constancy is typically measured with techniques involving asymmetric matching by adjustment, in which the observer views two scenes under different illuminants and adjusts the colour of a reference patch in one to match a test patch in the other. This technique involves an unnatural task, requiring the observer to predict and adjust colour appearance under an illumination shift. Natural colour constancy is more a simple matter of determining whether a colour is the same as or different from that seen under different illumination conditions. There are also technical disadvantages to the method of matching by adjustment, particularly when used to measure colour constancy in complex scenes. Therefore, we have developed and tested a two-dimensional method of constant-stimuli, forced-choice matching paradigm for measuring colour constancy. Observers view test and reference scenes haploscopically and simultaneously, each eye maintaining separate adaptation throughout a session. On each trial, a pair of test and reference patches against multicoloured backgrounds are presented, the reference patch colours being selected from a two-dimensional grid of displayable colours around the point of perfect colour constancy. The observer's task is to respond “same” or “different”. Fitting a two-dimensional Gaussian to the percentage of “different” responses yields (1) the subjective colour-constancy point, (2) the discrimination ellipse centred on this point, and (3) a map of changes in sensitivity to chromatic differences induced by the illuminant shift. The subjective colour-constancy point measured in this way shows smaller deviations from perfect colour constancy—under conditions of monocular adaptation—than previously reported; discrimination ellipses are several times larger than standard MacAdam ellipses; and chromatic sensitivity is independent of the direction of the illuminant shift, for broad distributions of background colours.