VISion Res. Vol. 31, No. II, pp.

1923-1930, 1991
Printed in Great Britam. All rights reserved
0042-6989/91 $3.00 +0.00
Copyright 1991 Pergamon Press pIc
THE ROLE OF COLOUR AS A MONOCULAR DEPTH CUE
TOM TROSCIANKO,l RACHEL MONTAGNON,2 JACQUES LE CLERC,3 EMMANUELLE MALBERT
3
and PIERRE-LoUIS CHANTEAU
3
IPerceptual Systems Research Centre, Department of Psychology, Umversity of Bristol, 8 Woodland
Road, Bristol BS8 ITN, 2Department of Anatomy, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol BS8
lTD, England and JESIEE 2, Boulevard Blaise Pascal, B.P.99, 93162 Noisy-Ie-Grand, France
(ReceIVed 27 July 1990; in revised form 18 February 1991)
Abstract-Does colour information playa role tn the perception of depth? Its input to stereopsis is weak,
and it has been suggeted that depth from monocular cues, such as texture gradients, is also abolished
at isoluminance (colour contrast with no luminance contrast). We first investigated whether depth from
texture gradients disappears at isoluminance. The percept remained unaltered. Further experiments
revealed that certain colour gradients (at isoluminance) markedly affected the perceived depth. A gradient
in saturation (e.g. red-to-grey) was particularly effective, whereas a red-green hue gradient had no effect
on perceived slant. We concluded that colour information can be used by the visual system to encode
depth, especially in situatIOns where the visual environment is rich in cues which could be used to signal
depth in this way.
Colour Monocular depth perception Texture Texture gradients Isoluminance
INTRODUCTION
The human visual system expends much effort
generating a stable three-dimensional percept
from two-dimensional retinal images. In stere-
opsis it uses the angular disparities between sets
of points in each monocular image and must
therefore solve the "correspondence problem".
Although colour might provide a useful con-
straint here, experimental evidence shows it
does not lead to a strong perception of depth in
human vision (Lu & Fender, 1972), although
there is some evidence that colour does have a
weak input to stereopsis (De Weert & Sadza,
1983; Grinberg & Williams, 1985). However,
the visual system can estimate depth from
many monocular depth cues, such as perspec-
tive, texture-gradient, and occlusion for static
images; and motion parallax for moving ones.
Livingstone and Hubel (1987) claimed that the
monocular cues also fail to elicit depth at isolu-
minance, and that motion perception is im-
paired under these conditions (see Cavanagh,
Boeglin & Favreau, 1984; Troscianko & Fahle,
1988-but this issue will not be considered
further in this paper). However, some studies
cast doubt on Livingstone and Hubel's claim
that no depth can be seen under monocular
viewing conditions. Cavanagh (1987) showed
that line drawings showing occlusion and/or
perspective can be seen in the correct manner at
isoluminance. On the other hand, shading infor-
mation and subjective contours did not give
stable depth percepts. Furthermore, Zimmerman
and Cavanagh (1990) found that slant percep-
tion was unaffected at isoluminance in slanted
planes where the border of the frame was visible
and a (random) texture was embedded in the
plane. This study investigated the generation of
depth from surface detail alone, without the
added information from occluding contours of
any other source.
There were two separate questions asked in
this study. First, we wanted to see whether
quantitative data from naive subjects would
support Livingstone and Hubel's argument that
no depth is seen in monocular displays having,
say, a texture gradient or perspective. This is
equivalent to asking whether colour can act as
a carrier for the spatial information required to
elicit such depth perception. Secondly, ifit turned
out that colour can act as an appropriate carrier
for such spatial information, we wanted to ask
whether colour can, in itself, contribute to
monocular depth perception. Thus, the second
question was whether the visual system can
use colour gradient information to estimate
depth, for a fixed spatial pattern. The visual
1923
1924 TOM TRosclANKo el at.
environment contains colour-gradient cues to
relative distance: for example, atmospheric scat-
tering renders distant colours less saturated than
closely-viewed ones. This cue is effective over
distances of many kilometres where other visual
mechanisms (such as stereopsis and motion
parallax) would not be expected to provide
information about depth.
METHODS
Stimuli were generated using a Pluto II
graphics system driven by an IBM-PC compat-
ible computer. This graphics system gives 8-bit
level resolution to each of the R, G, and B guns
on a Digivision monitor, model CD14 3112 H3.
The frame rate was 50 Hz. Using a chinrest,
subjects viewed the display monocularly, using
their right eye, at a distance of 1m, through a
tube lined with black velvet. This eliminated the
rest of the visual field (including the edges of the
TV monitor) and hence cues to the true fronto-
parallel orientation of the display. It should be
pointed out that any residual cues (raster lines,
specks of dust, and any specular reflections from
the screen) would code zero slant. Thus, any
perceived slant found in our experiments would
not be expected to arise from these artefacts. In
pilot experiments (with a luminance-modulated
display) perceived depth reduced with viewing
time. An electro-mechanical shutter with a 2 sec
on, 2 sec off cycle rendered the depth percept
stable over time and was therefore used in all
experiments.
The isoluminant point between the red squares
and the white background was found by flicker
photometry at a rate of 25 Hz for each subject.
The procedure (described in detail in Troscianko
& Low, 1985) gives an approximate indication
of the iso1uminant point; it is then necessary to
bracket this in small steps to be sure of including
each subject's actual isoluminance point for that
pattern. Note that each subject produced a
slightly different absolute match point (typical
between-subject variation was about 2% in
contrast). However, the subject's individual
isoluminance point was then used as a reference
for that subject and is represented, for example,
by the zero value of the abscissa of Fig. 2.
Estimates of perceived depth were made as
follows: with their left arms, subjects slanted a
hinged plane to match the perceived slant of the
screen and this inclination was measured by the
computer through a 8-bit analogue-to-digital
converter. The range of slants available between
the end-stops on the hinged plane was about
- 30 to +90 deg (a negative slant means that
the top of the plane was closer than the bottom;
a slant of zero means the plane was fronto-
parallel; a positive slant means that the top was
further than the bottom). Thus, there was no
particular apparatus cue to the position of the
vertical, although of course gravity would still
provide such a cue. The intention was to avoid
ceiling effects around zero slant. Stimuli were
presented in random order, 60 times each. Each
stimulus was presented for as many 4 sec presen-
tation cycles as was necessary for the subject
to match the perceived slant; the subject pressed
a pushbutton to indicate that the match was
satisfactory, whereupon the computer stored the
slant value and generated the next stimulus.
Four subjects were used: two authors and two
naive subjects.
There were two main experiments, and a con-
trol experiment. Experiment 1 asked whether
slant is perceived in an isoluminant texture-gradi-
ent display. The control experiment was aimed at
establishing whether any slant found in Exper-
iment 1 could arise due to a failure of achieving
isoluminance (i.e. could be due to residual lumi-
nance information in the image). Experiment 2
asked whether colour gradients, can, in them-
selves, give a perception of slant, either when
there is also a texture gradient present (in which
case the colour gradient can be added either to
oppose or enhance the texture gradient) or when
there is no texture gradient in the image. The
details of the colours and gradients used in the
stimuli are given in the captions to the figures
showing the stimuli used (Figs 1 and 3).
RESULTS
Figure 1 shows a typical texture-gradient
stimulus used in the first experiment. The
independent variable was the luminance of the
(neutral) background. The luminance of the
(red) squares was kept constant. Half the stimuli
had no texture gradient, and were entirely com-
posed of red squares similar in size to those in
the middle row of Fig. 1.
Figure 2 gives results for four subjects viewing
these texture-gradient stimuli. Slant estimates
do not vary with luminance contrast, even at
isoluminance. (Stimuli with no texture gradient
gave slants of about zero.) Note that there are
individual differences between subjects but the
function for each subject is essentially flat.
These results suggest that colour information
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Fig. 3. Stimuli used in second experiment. From top left, (A) Texture gradient, regular pattern; (B) No
texture gradient, irregular pattern; (C) Texture gradient, irregular pattern; (D) No texture gradient, regular
pattern. The experiment compared perceived slant between a uniform red pattern and one having the same
spatial structure but a gradient in saturation (e.g. red-grey), hue (e.g. red-green), or luminance (e.g.
red-black). Chromaticities of the colour gradients were as follows: red-grey from x = 0.60, y =0.35
(bottom row) to x =0.26, y =0.25 (top row); red-green from x =0.61, y =0.35 (bottom row) to x =0.30,
y = 0.49 (top row). All displays except the luminance-gradient stimuli were isoluminant with a luminance
value of 4 cd/m
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1926
The role of colour as a monocular depth cue
1927
Mean differences
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r-grey
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Dr-green
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A B C 0
Texture condition
Fig. 4. Results of second experiment. The ordinate shows
the difference in perceived slant in the "gradient" condition
compared to the uniform red condition. Thus, a positive
value shows that the gradient increases the amount of
perceived depth. Three kinds of gradient were investigated:
(I) red-black (luminance gradient); (2) red-grey (saturation
gradient) and (3) red-green (hue gradient). Further experi-
ments showed that a reversed gradient reduces the perceived
depth. Standard deviations on each mean are shown.
dow" containing what looked like scratchmarks
of random length. Thus, the colour information
was effective in producing perceptual segregation
of the two planes, of which one was defined by
colour and the other by luminance.
The second experiment investigated the effect
of colour gradients on the perception of slant.
Figure 3 shows the types of stimulus used in this
experiment. There were four spatial configur-
ations, labelled A, B, C and D. A consisted of
a texture gradient and a regular pattern (with
perspective cues). B had no texture gradient,
and positional noise was added to make the
display irregular. C was an irregular pattern
with a texture gradient (but no perspective cues
due to the irregularity). D was a regular pattern
without a texture gradient.
Figure 4 shows the main results obtained in
Experiment 2. The data are presented as a differ-
ence in matched slant between a pattern with the
appropriate colour gradient, and the same spatial
pattern with a uniform colour whose chroma-
ticity was that of the middle row of the colour-
gradient pattern. All displays in Experiment 2
were presented at isoluminance, with the obvious
exception of the luminance-gradient condition
(where the mean luminance was equated to that
of the isoluminant stimuli). The data of Fig. 4
are presented such that a positive value indicated
that the gradient in question added to the per-
ceived slant (i.e. the top seemed proportionately
more distant than the bottom) whereas a nega-
tive value indicated that the gradient reduced the
amount of slant seen. Differences, rather than
25 -15 -5 5 15
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Fig. 2. Mean results for four subjects showing the relation-
ship between perceived slant and luminance contrast. The
ordinate labelled "0" is each subject's isoluminant point as
determined by flicker photometry. There is no reduction in
perceived slant at this point.
can code depth arising from texture gradients.
However, it has been argued that all isolurninant
display have some residual luminance inform-
ation (Livingstone & Hubel, 1987; Troscianko
& Fahle, 1988), implying that the depth in these
displays might have arisen from low-contrast
luminance edges around each square, perhaps
in some part of the visual field only, since the
above authors have also argued that it is difficult
simultaneously to achieve isoluminance in all
parts of a large display. In the contol experiment,
we measured the amount of perceived slant at
isoluminance and then the amount of luminance
contrast needed to produce the same amount of
slant in a monochrome display. Both (naive)
subjects used in this experiment needed a lumin-
ance contrast of around 30% to give the same
amount of depth as in the isoluminant display.
Errors of isoluminance are typically around
4% contrast (Troscianko, 1987), i.e. an order
of magnitude less than the amount of contrast
required for this effect. It is therefore unlikely
that such errors can account for the depth seen
in these displays. Note that additional luminance
masking-noise (high contrast white stripes of
random length and position, oriented vertically
and horizontally) was added to the display in the
control experiment in order to raise the lumin-
ance threshold and effectively mask any weak
non-isoluminant edge effects of the sides of the
squares-but the same noise was also added to
the isoluminant display, and hardly reduced the
perceived slant, again implying that the depth
was being coded by colour, and not residual
luminance. Indeed, in the isoluminant case with
added masking noise, subjects reported seeing
a slanted plane through a (frontoparallel) "win-
1928 TOM TROSCIANKO et al.
absolute measures, are shown here because of the
between-subject variation in absolute matched
values which has been seen in Fig. 2. We found
that the matched slant differences gave a stable
measure across subjects. The results for the
saturation gradient and the luminance gradient
are clear-cut. Adding each of these gradients such
that the top of the display is less saturated or
darker than the bottom enhances the perception
of depth. This effect is independent of whether
the pattern already has a texture gradient or not.
Note, however, that a red-green hue gradient
does not produce a change in perceived slant
(unlike gradients of saturation and luminance).
Informal experiments not reported in detail here
suggest, moreover, that a textured field of some
kind is necesary to elicit a perception of depth
from a colour gradient. In other words, a uni-
form field changing from red at the bottom to
grey at the top does not look slanted. Finally,
we found that adding a reversed saturation
gradient (i.e. red at the top, grey at the bottom)
to a texture-gradient display could cancel the
perceived slant, making the display look fronto-
parallel. This nulling possibility enhances the
validity of the slant-matching psychophysical
method.
DISCUSSION
The results of Experiment 1 suggest that slant
arising from texture gradients is clearly perceived
at isoluminance; indeed, there is no reduction
in perceived slant between the isoluminant
condition and conditions in which there was a
luminance contrast present in the image. These
findings are markedly different from those
reported by Livingstone and Hubel (1987). We
feel that the perceived slant at isoluminance is
unlikely to have arisen as a result of errors of
achieving isoluminance, as shown by the results
of the control experiment. The difference in
results may possibly be attributed to the fact that
we eliminated context cues such as the rectangu-
lar surround of the video monitor, and that we
used a shutter to prevent total adaptation to
the slant after prolonged viewing. Finally, we
obtained quantitative data using a slant-match-
ing technique rather than relying on binary
verbal reports (slant vs no-slant).
If the results of Experiment 1 suggest that
colour is a useful vehicle for encoding slant from
texture gradients, the results in Experiment 2
suggest that colour can, in itself, code monocular
depth. A saturation gradient is particularly effec-
tive at achieving this. The amount of depth thus
generated seems to depend only on the colour
gradient and not on whether the colour gradient
is superimposed on a texture gradient or a flat
texture. If the colour gradient is introduced in
opposition to the texture gradient, cancellation of
depth can result if the parameters are accurately
balanced. In general, the difficulties of achieving
such a balance prevented us from using this as
an experimental technique here, but such a series
of experiments is certainly possible in principle.
Finally, we established (albeit informally) that
a texture of some kind is necessary for colour
to elicit depth-a uniform colour gradient
(e.g. a rainbow) is not sufficient. This suggests
that, while colour can code depth, its contribu-
tion is contingent upon the presence of texture
cues. Such a contingency implies strong links
between texture and colour processing in human
vision.
Why should colour information be used in
depth perception? In landscape, more distant
colours appear much less saturated. This is
caused by atmospheric scattering. The present
study has found that saturation and luminance
gradients, which do occur in natural scenes,
produce a perception of slant. On the other
hand, a red-green hue gradient, which does not
occur in nature, does not change perceived
slant. Strong monocular depth effects have been
reported under water (Ross, 1967) where divers
perceive distant objects as being larger than they
would otherwise be for a given retinal subtense.
The "constancy scaling" hypothesis (Emmert's
Law) predicts the direction of the illusion. The
explanation is given in terms of a reduction in
brightness contrast, but our findings suggest that
a change in colour could be important as well.
It therefore appears that variations (gradients)
in colour can in themselves code depth in the
absence of stereo and convergence cues. Al-
though our viewing distance was 1m, our display
eliminated stereo, convergence and context cues.
Thus, the subjects saw a display whose distance
was inherently ambiguous. Several subjects
spontaneously reported that it was like looking
at terrain several miles away. Ifcolour is a depth
cue, it would be reasonable for the cue to act over
large distances since it is under such conditions
that stereopsis and convergence cues are not
available to the system.
Acknowledgements-We thank the Medical Research Council
for support, Mark Georgeson for comments, and Susan
Blackmore for help in preparing the manuscript.
The role of colour as a monocular depth cue 1929
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