Colour perception in telemedicine

A doctor's experience of examining patients is for the most part in artificial light, which is known to affect colour perception. However, the phenomenon of colour constancy (the perceived stability of the colour of objects, despite changes in the illuminating light) allows the eye and brain to compensate, to some extent. Colours like red, yellow, green and blue, which are processed by basic colour-opponent mechanisms, show better colour constancy than intermediate colours. These are the very colours that are involved in skin tones. A skin rash can therefore be viewed sometimes acceptably with lower-quality telemedical systems. Colour is undoubtedly important in telemedicine, but while a great deal is known about the fundamentals of colour perception from laboratory experiments, little is known about the effects of colour on the outcome of the telemedical process. The field of colour perception therefore represents a fertile area for telemedical research.