Abstract

We can perceive the lightness and color of surfaces fairly accurately despite large variations in the intensity and spectral composition of the illumination. This color constancy is a form of visual adaptation in a general sense. But it is a different aspect of light adaptation--the associated change in visual sensitivity--that has been most completely documented in psychophysical and physiological experiments, and it is not yet clear to what extent the phenomena of constancy can be traced to the operation of known or plausible sensitivity regulating processes in the visual system. This paper will present an analysis of some of the evidence bearing on that issue.

© 1992 Optical Society of America