Abstract

A relatively small gray sample looks reddish when it is placed on a green background, and yellowish when it is placed on a blue background. This phenomenon is an example of the well-known contrast effect. The purpose of this paper is to make a quantitative determination of the effect, and to check whether the empirical formula previously derived for lightness contrast applies also to chromatic contrast. Two series of color samples were prepared so that, in the dominator–modulator system proposed by Judd, only one of the three fundamental responses varied. For a given member of one of these two series viewed on a surround of any member of the same series on the left side, the observer was instructed to choose, for a surround of a different member of the series on the right, the member of the series producing most nearly the same color appearance. The crispening effect which was found in lightness was also found in each of the chromatic responses, green and violet; and the empirical formula derived for lightness contrast was found to apply with fair success to the observations of each of the five observers, each with a different set of constants.

© 1967 Optical Society of America

Lightness Change of Grays Induced by Change in Reflectance of Gray Background*

H. Takasaki
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(4) 504-509 (1966)

von Kries Coefficient Law Applied to Subjective Color Change Induced by Background Color*

Hiroshi Takasaki
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59(10) 1370-1376 (1969)

Induced Colors Seen by a Deuteranope*†

Jo Ann S. Kinney
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 57(9) 1149-1154 (1967)

Sustained Bidwell Afterimages: Effects of Disc Rotation Speed, Color-Pulse Chromaticity, and Color-Pulse Luminance*†

Lawrence Wheeler and Richard C. LaForce
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 57(3) 386-393 (1967)

Transfer of Spatial Chromaticity-Contrast at Threshold in the Human Eye*

Gerard J. C. van der Horst, Charles M. M. de Weert, and Maarten A. Bouman
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 57(10) 1260-1266 (1967)