< Back to previous page

Project

Perception of light and color in real and virtual environments.

Understanding and predicting the perception and appearance of light and color in realistic scenes is one of the ultimate goals of color science. Today’s fundamental research on color appearance and color perception is typically based on simplified stimuli and viewing conditions: a flat, uniform stimuli on a neutral flat uniform background illuminated by a single (quasi)neutral light source. However, more complex, naturalistic stimuli–but more difficult to systematically generate and control–might provide cues to and activate certain processes in the human visual and cognitive system that might remain quasi-silent using artificial simple stimuli. Advances in virtual reality provide the opportunity to use highly realistic stimuli in an unprecedentedly controlled way, making it a promising innovative, efficient and economical research tool with potentially ground-breaking consequences for the study, understanding and prediction of perception of realistic scenes. However, current knowledge and understanding of how (well) color perception in virtual reality corresponds to that in actual reality is limited. This project will therefore experimentally characterize and compare major, not yet fully understood, aspects of color perception (chromatic adaptation, simultaneous contrast and spatial effects) in actual and virtual reality: to 1) deepen our understanding of these fundamental processes and 2) establish mathematical methods to predict perception in real and virtual environments.

Date:1 Jan 2021 →  Today
Keywords:color science, naturalistic stimuli, virtual reality, chromatic adaptation
Disciplines:Architectural sciences and technology, Photonics, light and lighting, Sensory processes and perception