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Chromatic Contrast Sensitivity

Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology

Definition

Chromatic contrast refers to the occurrence of differences in chromaticity (saturated, hue-full color) in a visual percept (scene, image, stimulus). It may consist in differences across space (spatial chromatic contrast) or in changes of chromaticity across time (temporal chromatic contrast). The term chromatic contrast is used in opposition to achromatic contrast, where differences only occur in luminance (gray level). For example, whereas a black-and-white photo only contains achromatic contrasts, a color photo also contains chromatic contrast. While chromatic and color contrast refer to the same visual phenomenon, the term “chromatic contrast” emphasizes research on chromatic contrast sensitivity.

Conceptual Clarifications

Almost every phenomenon in color vision involves contrasts between colors. This is particularly true since colors are not perceived absolutely, but relative to other colors. In fact, contrasts between colors affect the appearance of the single colors....

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Giessen University, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10, 35394, Giessen, Germany

    Christoph Witzel & Karl Gegenfurtner

Authors
  1. Christoph Witzel
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  2. Karl Gegenfurtner
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Correspondence to Christoph Witzel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Design University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom

    Ronnier Luo

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Witzel, C., Gegenfurtner, K. (2015). Chromatic Contrast Sensitivity. In: Luo, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_17-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_17-1

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Chromatic Contrast Sensitivity
    Published:
    21 April 2023

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_17-2

  2. Original

    Chromatic Contrast Sensitivity
    Published:
    26 September 2015

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_17-1

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