Illuminant color perception of spectrally filtered spotlights

The color perceived to belong to the illumination of objects is often based on cues from the scene within which the objects are perceived, instead of being based on any view of the source itself. We present measurements of illuminant color estimation by human observers for moving, spectrally filtered spotlights. The results show that when only one illuminant is in the field of view, estimates of illuminant color are seriously biased by the chromaticities of the illuminated surfaces. When the surround of the spotlight is illuminated by a dimmer second light, spotlight matching moves toward veridical in most conditions. Simulations show that a gray-world model cannot be rejected as an adequate explanation for illuminant color estimation and provides as good a fit as a model that gives greater weights to the brightest surfaces. When the surrounding illuminant is brighter than the spotlight, the situation is similar to that of a moving filter. Spotlight matches are close to veridical, and the results can be fit by a model based on estimating both illuminants.