Effects of melanopsin stimulation on color appearance of lighting environment

Abstract

  Melanopsin has been reported to contribute to color appearance. Previous studies have examined the effects of melanopsin stimulation on the color appearance of small visual stimuli but not on the color appearance of the lighting environment. To determine the effect of melanopsin on the color appearance in a lighting environment, we conduct an experiment using an apparatus in which a multispectral light-emitting diode (LEDs) light source is placed on the ceiling. Eight light source conditions are prepared by combining the correlated color temperature (2700 K, 5000 K, and 8000 K) and melanopsin stimulation (low, normal, and high). The results showed that the higher the stimulation with melanopsin, the more the color appeared greenish under some conditions at the 5000 K and 8000 K. Melanopsin contributes not only to the partial visual field but also to the color appearance of the lighting environment, indicating that it must consider melanopsin stimulation as well as tristimulus values when designing the spectral power of lighting.