Spectral saturation and its prediction

Abstract

The saturation of spectral lights was measured in the following two ways: with a standard color-naming procedure, in which subjects reported the percent whiteness perceived in a given stimulus, and with a heterochromatic saturation matching technique, generally analogous to heterochromatic brightness matching. Both methods yielded similar results. For each subject, chromatic valence and spectral sensitivity functions were also determined. Heterochromatic flicker photometry and heterochromatic brightness matching were used for the latter. Predictions of each subject’s saturation data were made on the basis of the individual’s chromatic valence and spectral sensitivity functions within the framework of opponent colors theory. No reliable difference was found between heterochromatic flicker photometry and heterochromatic brightness matching as predictors of saturation. Although the theoretically and empirically derived saturation functions were qualitatively similar, it was generally found to be the case that the ratio of saturation of shortwave to longwave lights is less than that predicted by theory.