Smoothness and flicker perception of temporal color transitions

\u3cp\u3eWe present results from two experiments designed to explore temporal properties of human color vision relevant to dynamic lighting applications. Sensitivity for smoothness perception of linear temporal transitions and flicker visibility was tested. Stimuli in the first experiment were linear color transitions, varying in either lightness, chroma or hue, around a base color represented in CIE LCh. Results show a significantly lower smoothness threshold for lightness changes than for chroma and hue changes. Moreover, the thresholds for lightness change show independence from the chroma and hue of the base color in contrast to thresholds for chroma and hue changes. A difference between the sensitivity for chroma and hue changes was also demonstrated. In the second experiment, the sensitivity for linear transitions is compared to flicker sensitivity for the same base colors. Results show that visibility thresholds for flicker are significantly lower than the thresholds smoothness of linear changes, demonstrating an influence of the type of change to the temporal sensitivity. The results from the flicker experiment show the same tendencies as the linear changes. The results from these experiments show a need for a model of perceived smoothness to control temporal changes in dynamic lighting systems and give the first steps towards building such a model.\u3c/p\u3