Variability in Unique Hue Selection: A Surprising Phenomenon

Abstract Data from ten different experiments involving nearly 600 observers of determination of unique hues are compared. Six experiments involve determination using spectral lights; two use desaturated monitor colors, and the remaining two use color chip sets. Except for unique green, color chips result in narrower ranges of results than spectral lights. Unique green has a surprisingly large range of variation in both spectral light and color chip experiments, followed by red. Comparison of spectral light data indicates that one observer's unique blue can be another's unique green and vice versa, and the same for yellow and green. This finding raises significant questions for color appearance and color space/difference models, as well as philosophy of color. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 29, 158–162, 2004;Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.10237