Perceptual constancy or perceptual compromise

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Abstract
In certain commonly used experimental situations in visual perception, the proximal stimulus of a perceived object (i.e. its retinal image) is changed and the resulting phenomenal character is found to remain relatively unchanged. This may be explained either as a tendency for the appearance to remain constant or as a tendency for it to be a compromise between the character of the retinal image and the real (i.e. physical) character of the object. One can, however, arrange an experimental situation in which the retinal image remains constant and the reality changes. What is then observed is not that the appearance remains constant but that this changes in the same direction as does the real character of the object. This result seems to point to a “compromise” explanation rather than a “constancy” one.

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