Perceiving the average hue of color arrays.
The average of a color distribution has special significance for color coding (e.g., to estimate the illuminant) but how it depends on the visual representation (e.g., perceptual versus cone-opponent) or nonlinearities (e.g., categorical coding) is unknown. We measured the perceived average of two colors shown alternated in spatial arrays. Observers adjusted the components until the average equaled a specified reference hue. Matches for red, blue-red, or yellow-green were consistent with the arithmetic mean chromaticity, while blue-green settings deviated toward blue. The settings show little evidence for categorical coding, and cannot be predicted from the scaled appearances of the individual components.
Jacquelyn
J
Webster
Paul
P
Kay
Michael A
MA
Webster
D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017949:Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / Q000166:cytology