Does realistic rendering of a gradient in illumination increase chromatic induction?

Placing a background consisting of two parts with a different surface reflectance behind two physically identical surfaces makes the two surfaces look different from each other. This is a phenomenon known as chromatic induction. Chromatic induction can be seen as a misdirected attempt to maintain color constancy: the visual system erroneously attributes (part of) the difference in the light reaching the eye from the two parts of the background to a difference in illumination instead of a difference in reflectance. In the present paper we examine whether subjects attribute more of the differences between light from different parts of the background to the illumination if the scene is rendered in a manner that suggests that there is a difference in illumination. We simulated a single surface illuminated by an ambient illumination and a lamp with a different spectral power distribution near one of the two surfaces that subjects had to match. We found a very modest level of chromatic induction. Thus realistic rendering of a gradient in illumination does not increase chromatic induction.