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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 1, 2026

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material

Published on: May 20, 2013

Reflectance, illumination, and appearance in color constancy.

John J McCann¹, Carinna Parraman², Alessandro Rizzi³

¹McCann Imaging Arlington, MA, USA.

Frontiers in Psychology

|January 31, 2014

Summary

Color constancy is imperfect in 3-D scenes. Object shape and illumination structure significantly alter perceived color, deviating from predictions for flat surfaces. This study quantifies these appearance shifts.

Keywords:

3-D test targets color constancy discounting illumination high-dynamic-range (HDR) scenes measured appearance sensations

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Last Updated: May 1, 2026

Measuring Spatially- and Directionally-varying Light Scattering from Biological Material

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Published on: May 20, 2013

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Published on: April 24, 2017

Applying Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging to Investigate the Palettes and the Techniques of Painters

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Area of Science:

Visual Perception
Color Science
Computational Neuroscience

Background:

Color constancy aims to explain stable color perception under varying illumination.
Traditional studies often use flat Mondrian displays, which simplify real-world visual complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate color constancy in three-dimensional (3-D) scenes with complex illumination.
To quantify deviations from perfect color constancy caused by 3-D structure and nonuniform lighting.

Main Methods:

Utilized identical 3-D Color Mondrian displays with wooden blocks under uniform and nonuniform illumination.
Employed magnitude estimation by observers and watercolor painting to quantify color appearance and surface reflectance correlation.
Measured changes in lightness, hue, and chroma of constant paints.

Main Results:

Color constancy generalizations for flat Mondrians do not fully apply to 3-D displays.
Constant paints exhibited significant shifts in lightness, hue, and chroma under nonuniform illumination.
Object structure and illumination spatial information critically influence color appearance.

Conclusions:

Perceived color is dependent on the spatial information of both illumination and object reflectance.
Models of human visual appearance must account for departures from perfect color constancy observed in 3-D environments.
Provides a dataset of color appearance measurements for computational modeling.