Color Constancy Theory

God creates human with vision awareness that enable them to perceive their surroundings and with the addition to the mixture of color to the surroundings, it brings more meaning to their observation. Color perception has a unique ability to perceive and recognize the presence of objects that enables human to distinguish the objects in their surrounding through its shades that permitted them to view the size, shape, outline and the figure of the objects. In ordinary day, human does not notice that they view their surrounding in same color manner. Many researches in color constancy have been carried out to study the human ability to interpret the color constancy of the object in various condition. Color constancy defined as the tendency for an

Trichromatic theory first proposed Thomas Young and later modified by Hermann Von Helmholtz proposed three types of cones photoreceptors knowns as red cones, green cones and blue cones. The cones are sensitive to specify wavelengths of light that later fire the signal to the brain. Where by the combination of cones and the rate of firing determine the color will been sight. These theories were test through psychophysical color matching experiment (Figure 1), to study the light wavelength signaled by activity of three receptor mechanisms. The research identify that the three different cones have differ maximal sensitivity that corresponds to three different color. The cones that respond to the maximal sensitivity in the long wavelength light respond to orange-red color, cones that respond to the maximal sensitivity in a middle wavelength light respond to yellow-green color and cones that respond to the maximal sensitivity in the short wavelength light respond to blue color. Other colors could be sense through the combination of the three types color. Example, the formation of yellow with the combination of red and green color, formation of magenta with the combination of red and blue color, formation of cyan with the combination of blue and green color and formation of whiteness

The average cones response over the whole view, not only the immediate background. The global information from across the scene helps to balance any skew in the background color particular to an object. The Gestalt theory could relate to this factor, since the theory also has the mechanisms that able to help in picturing the entire image together. Thus this factor enable color constancy that leads the eye vision to see the same color still appear in different environment and does not dissolve with the other colors in the environment. Example, a full furnish living room is viewed based on it organization entirely and not view the furniture individual.

Finally factor the influence of top-down processing. Top-down processing relates storage of the experiences. Since the awareness of the object’s color is stored in the brain memory, an individual will automatic define the object is of a particular color. Hence, the assumption that the object color does not replace to other color. The earlier example of banana can used to relate. In which the understanding of previously acquired knowledge that young banana are greenish and as it ripe, it turns yellowish. Consequently, the cause of the banana’s color changes disable to relate the color constancy