Age‐related changes in the color appearance of broadband surfaces

Abstract

AbstractChromatic and achromatic components of 15 broadband surfaces were scaled by 15 younger (mean age = 21.3 yrs) and 15 older (mean age = 71.9 yrs) subjects. Colored surfaces were obtained from the OSA Uniform Color Scales and presented as 2°‐diameter test stimuli that were freely viewed. Stimuli were presented in a grey (L = 0) ganzfeld‐like hemisphere with an illuminant having a correlated color temperature of 6200 K. Five stimuli were presented at three lightness levels (L = −4, 0 and +4). Each lightness level included samples chosen so that one pair plotted approximately along a tritan axis in MacLeod‐Boynton receptor‐excitation space and another pair plotted on an axis of constant S‐cone stimulation. The appearance of each test stimulus was scaled using the hue terms red, green, yellow and blue, and in terms of the proportion of overall chromatic content. The results indicate that hue names were used similarly for the two groups of subjects, however, older subjects perceived all stimuli as having less chromatic content than demonstrated by younger observers. Differences between the two age groups in perceived chromatic content of the test stimuli progressively increased as the lightness and luminance levels of the test stimuli decreased. Results obtained from control experiments suggest that this difference between the two age groups is not due to the influence of senile miosis or lenticular senescence leading to variations in the illuminances and spectral compositions of the test lights reaching the retina. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.