Effects of low-level red ambient lighting and stimulus size on classification of colours on displays

Abstract

Electronic display colours must be selected so that they are easily discriminated and recognized under different ambient lighting and symbol size conditions. This study investigated the effects of low-level red ambient lighting and stimulus size on the classification of a wide range of cathode ray tube colours into a set of common colour name categories. Both ambient illumination and stimulus size influenced the naming of colours. Colour naming reliability levels for each of the stimuli were plotted on the CIE diagram to provide a basis for deriving colours that are least likely to be confused under different ambient lighting and stimulus size conditions.