Target detection with color versus black and white television

An experiment was conducted to investigate target detection performance on color and black and white TV. Green, brown, and gray model tank targets were viewed under 25, 35, and 300 TV lines resolution against a green and a brown background on a terrain model. Target-to-background luminance contrasts studied were positive (targets lighter than the surround), negative (targets darker than the surround), and zero. Gray targets were found to be more detectable than either brown or green targets. Higher resolution improved performance about equally for both color and black and white TV, and targets lighter than the background were detected more easily than either negative or zero contrast targets.