Effect Of Five Different Light Sources On Matching Paint Chip Samples.

Background: Color constancy, the perceived stability of color appearance regardless of
changes in illumination, is not absolute. The goal of this study was to determine whether color constancy is maintained in matching tasks under five different illuminants. There would be no statistical difference in the number of matches made if color constancy played a role in the matching tasks required in the following study. Methods: Each of the five light sources was calibrated to approximately the same illuminance of twenty eight foot-candles. The sources were then used to illuminate two boards per light source, one containing twenty five paint chip samples numbered 1-25, and the other twenty five samples lettered A-Y. Subjects were asked to match each numbered sample with the corresponding lettered sample, and record their answers on the provided form. Results: Using SPSS, a repeated measures within-subjects ANOV A test was performed on both the number of errors per subject and the completion time per subject. In addition to the
ANOVA, a pairwise planned contrast was performed. Mauchly's Test of Sphericity, was
also calculated. When using the Huynh-Feldt correction to evaluate the repeated measures analysis, a significant difference between the means was observed for the number of errors per subject, but not for the completion time per subject. Conclusions: The type of light source does affect the ability to perform color matching tasks, but not the time to complete the task.