Impact of chromatic surround on display perception

Perceptual changes in colors on a display due to highly chromatic surrounds were examined. While classical experiments showed that achromatic surround luminance levels impact contrast response, here hue and chroma of the surround were also varied. In Part I, observers were found to systematically change their calibration of what color constitutes a neutral based upon the surround color. Red, yellow, green and blue surrounds were all shown to draw observers ' neutral points on a display toward the hue of the surround. The impacts increased relative to surround chroma. Lightness of the chromatic surround did not appear to have a large impact. Part II probed the question of whether the color in the visual periphery had a non-uniform impact on the chroma scale for patches on a display. Evidence from Part II indicates that in certain regions of color space a complex rearrangement of color distances may take place as surround colors are changed. The red chromatic scale on the display appeared to be particularly sensitive to change in surround.