Testing the possibility of average-color perception from multi-colored patterns

To test the possibility that an average color is perceived from a multi-colored pattern, the appearance of colored mosaic patterns as a whole was measured by the method of adjustment. As the range of color distribution in a mosaic pattern became larger, subjects' matches deviated more from the photometric averages of each pattern and the subjects perceived higher brightness from mosaic patterns. Since the saliency of element colors was different in an equiluminant mosaic pattern, two possible hypotheses for selecting a color which represents a mosaic pattern was examined by using brightness match results for each element color. The results show that the mosaic element with the highest-saturation strongly influences the choice of a color to represent a mosaic pattern.