Color perception within a chromatic context: changes in red/green equilibria caused by noncontiguous light

We measured changes in the color appearance of one light caused by another light presented in a well-separated region. Observers viewed a 1° test field superimposed on a 3°, 540 or 660 nm adapting field (32 or 320 td). The change in appearance due to noncontinguous light was determined by surrounding the 3° adapting field with a continguous 3° i.d., 5° o.d. ring of either 32 or 320 td. The ring was 540, 660 nm or achromatic (tungsten-halogen “white”). The test was an admixture of 549 and 660 nm light, and varied from 6 to 1000 td. The observer adjusted the ratio of 549 to 660 nm test light so the test appeared neither reddish nor greenish. A 540 or 660 nm ring had a chromatic inducing effect on the small test that mimicked a simple surround contiguous with the test. Results with an achromatic ring were more complex: an isolated achromatic ring (no adapting field present) had virtually no effect on the color appearance of the test, but the same achromatic ring surrounding a chromatic adapting field shifted the test toward the color appearance of the adapting light (e.g. introducing a “white” ring surrounding a “green” adapting field shifted the test toward greenness). A thin pencil-width band of “white” light superimposed on a larger 5° adapting field had an effect similar to a “white” 3–5° ring. These results demonstrate (1) strong effects of the remote noncontiguous lights and (2) that the change in color appearance they cause is not a simple function of only the light in the noncontiguous region. The change depends on other lights in view. The visual processes revealed in these experiments are considered in terms of inferred illumination and surface reflectances of objects in natural scenes.