How Koreans Understand Colorfulness, Chroma, Vividness, and Depth

Abstract

In this study, the relationships between chae-do, the commonly used Korean terminology to describe chromatic attributes, CIE definition for colorfulness, Munsell definition for chroma, Berns’ definition for CIELAB based vividness and depth are investigated. Although only the definitions were presented, without corresponding terminologies, the observers’ responses showed that chae-do is understood very similarly to the definitions of CIE colorfulness and Munsell chroma. Responses for the definitions of vividness and depth also showed high correlation with Berns’ CIELAB based vividness and depth predictions, which shows that definitions were well understood. No correlations were found between the definition of CIE colorfulness and the definition of vividness, which shows that the definition of vividness is understood differently to the definition of colorfulness. Comparing the response with color appearance model predictions, the responses showed good correlation with the predictions. Especially, colorfulness definition responses showed the highest coefficient correlation with CIELAB-based Berns’ depth prediction, implying the possibility of colorfulness predictor modification for better prediction. The findings can be further investigated to observers from other non-English speaking countries and collect meaningful cross-cultural color appearance data.