An operational approach to colour constancy

Colour constancy is traditionally defined as the invariance of perceived surface colours under changes in the spectral composition of the illuminant. Existing quantitative studies show that, by this definition, human subjects show poor colour constancy. A different and complementary aspect of colour constancy is considered which is concerned with the ability of a subject to attribute correctly changes in the colour appearance of a scene either to changes in reflecting properties of the surfaces that make up the scene, or to changes in the spectral composition of the illuminant. Data are presented showing that, if the changes in the appearance of a scene were sufficiently great, subjects were capable of making the required discriminations highly reliably, and without scrutiny.