... distribution [McCann 1976, Kraft and Brainard 1999]. The human colour constancy mechanism must cope with two distinct situations in order to be effective: changes in scene illuminant over time (termed successive colour constancy), and areas of the same scene which are lit by illuminants of differing spectral power distribution (known as simultaneous colour constancy) [Brainard, 2003]. The mechanisms that govern these two phenomena need neither be the same nor mutually exclusive. In order to be colour constant, the visual system must be able to discount the variations in illumination across scenes so as to determine the reflectance of a given surface with a degree of constancy. The visual system is composed of low, mid and high level processing centres that may all have role to play in this image analysis. This review looks at experiments conducted to test varying hypothesis on the mechanisms behind this area of colour vision, and ...

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