Surface reflectances and human color constancy: comment on Dannemiller (1989)

Dannemiller's (1989) computational approach to color constancy is discussed in relation to human color constancy. A reflectance channel that requires a priori information is shown to be less plausible for the human visual system than Dannemiller argued. The resemblance of Dannemiller's hypothetical visual system to the human visual system is misleading because it implies that surface reflectance is the illuminant-invariant object color descriptor that the human visual system uses to achieve color constancy. However, an alternative type of descriptor is available that is not used to recover reflectance spectra. It has the advantage of allowing an interpretation that is preferable from a human perceptual point of view.