Adaptation reduces perceptual effects of inter-observer metamerism with narrow-band primaries
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Narrow-band display primaries increase observer metamerism, but to what extent does chromatic adaptation mitigate the perceptual consequences of these effects? We simulated 10,000 individualized observers viewing real-world reflectances under varied illuminants and optimized a virtual RGB display to reproduce each observer’s cone excitations. Between-observer disagreement was quantified using ΔE′ in CAM16-UCS. Without adaptation, metamerism increased as primaries narrowed, reaching a median ΔE′ of 4.8. Increasing adaptation reduced metamerism monotonically: complete adaptation reduced observers’ ΔE′ by a median of 40–67%, with the largest proportional reduction for the narrowest primaries. Adaptation to shared stimuli may therefore align visual experiences across individuals.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Institution: University of Oxford
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223225525