Colour Constancy in Goldfish and Man: Influence of Surround Size and Lightness

Colour constancy was investigated by using a series of 10 simultaneously presented surface colours ranging in small steps from green through gray to red – purple. Goldfish were trained to select one medium test field when the entire setup was illuminated with white light. In the tests, either red or green illumination was used. Colour constancy, as inferred from the choice behaviour, was perfect under green illumination when the test fields were presented on a gray or a white background, but imperfect on a black background. Under red illumination and a white background, however, colour constancy was overcompensated. Here, a colour contrast effect was observed. The influence of background l…