Colour judgment as a function of stimulus conditions and memory colour.

Abstract

The hypotheses that memory color effects (mismatches in the direction of remembered object color) occur only when conditions preclude an exact color match was confirmed by 2 experiments. These were modelled after previous studies which were to demonstrate associative factors in color judgments, but in which an exact match was impossible. When a match could be made, Ss made it regardless of associative influences. It is unlikely that memory color contributes to color constancy.

No measured effect of a familiar contextual object on color constancy

“…If such is the case, it might lead to a difference in the degree to which the color of a displayed familiar object affects the data. This conjecture echoes the conclusion drawn by Bolles et al . concerning the nature of how familiarity with an object can affect its experimentally reported color.…”

“…4 Conversely, Bolles et al found memory color effects only when the experimental color matching procedure prohibited subjects from making a satisfactory match, and also found substantial individual differences in memory color effects. 5 Memory color effects have been replicated and extended more recently, particularly under conditions where the variation in the illumination introduces ambiguity about the mapping between reflected light and object surface reflectance. 13,14 For example, Hansen et al showed that the achromatic color of a stimulus whose shape is that of a familiar object can be biased in a manner that suggests that the familiar object shape makes a contribution to color appearance.…”

“…Conversely, Bolles et al . found memory color effects only when the experimental color matching procedure prohibited subjects from making a satisfactory match, and also found substantial individual differences in memory color effects …”

“…Such "memory colors" can be recalled and may influence perception. 1 Indeed, memory for the color of familiar objects and its possible influence on perception has been studied extensively, [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] with the results of interest not only for basic vision science but also for applications in color reproduction.…”

Lightness depends on immediately prior experience

“…Thus, Bolles, Hulicka, and Hanly (1959) suggested that memory color effects may represent no more than a response bias. As for adaptation, although it has been shown to influence the perceived brightness or dimness of a surface (Davis & Brooks, 1977;Over, Broerse, Crassini, & Lovegrove, 1974), there is no empirical evidence showing an effect on lightness, the intrinsic gray shade of a surface.…”