The Goldfish as a Retinex Animal

Abstract

In an experiment designed to test color constancy in a situation comparable to that used in E. H. Land's experiments with human observers, goldfish were trained to approach a particular color within a richly colored but variable "Mondrian" background. They retained the ability to identify colors accurately even when the spectral composition of the illuminant was radically altered in generalization tests. Since the behavior of fish resembles that of human beings in these tests, Land's retinex theory seems to apply to a relatively primitive vertebrate as well as to humans.