Human color perception versus ambient brightness?

I figured people in this section might know some on the subject... I'm doing a research project on the human response to ambient brightness on the viewing of RGB color and RGB white balance. If anyone has any sources on related information, that would be great. To make it a bit clearer, the research is related to how (or if) the perception of red, green, and blue change depending on how bright the surroundings are. Anyone got anything? Thanks!

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Thanks Bluefan, but I was hoping for some non-wiki material.

Edit:The photometry one had some good sources. Thanks!

hmm, i (just a thought) think that our perception of a specific color or blend of colors wont change based on how much abient light there is but rather on the color of the object the light is projected on.

Or perhaps, our eyes increased sensitivity to green may make a rgb light soure look more green when its flooded by ambient light, over powering the reds and blues. Just speculating here :thinking:

Gryphon said:

hmm, i (just a thought) think that our perception of a specific color or blend of colors wont change based on how much abient light there is but rather on the color of the object the light is projected on.

Or perhaps, our eyes increased sensitivity to green may make a rgb light soure look more green when its flooded by ambient light, over powering the reds and blues. Just speculating here :thinking:

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I'm not really sure what you're saying... We know for a fact that rods are more sensitive towards blue than cones, but the question is does this correspond to things looking bluer or not? (because rods don't see R,G,or B, only alpha, ie the sum of R, G, and B).

My test basically consists of having people set their ideal white point with a PWM controlled RGB LED in different brightness conditions, but that comes after the research papers.

Well if you figure the ambient light can deplete some of the chemicals that are responsible for color detection, I'd say it'd have an effect. In the extreme case, imagine where you're in a room flooded by red light, and then you shine different colored lasers. Your sensitivity to different wavelengths will be affected by the ambient light.

As for ambient white light, it probably affects things too. How warm or how cool the white point is will enhance or degrade the laser colors that are sensed.

This site may have some good info on the subject, especially the background information and the test methods. I just found it yesterday. I'm not sure, but I think some of the color functions have correction factors for ambient light.

The Kruithof curve might be relevant to your research.

Thanks guys, I'll check those out.