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Lightness, brightness, and brightness contrast: 2. Reflectance variation

L E Arend1, B Spehar

  • 1Eye Research Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.

Perception & Psychophysics
|October 1, 1993
PubMed
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Visual perception of disk-and-annulus patterns is ambiguous. Changes in luminance are perceived as either reflectance or illuminance variations, regardless of experimental conditions or instructions.

Area of Science:

  • Visual perception
  • Color science
  • Psychophysics

Background:

  • Disk-and-annulus patterns are fundamental in visual perception research.
  • Luminance changes in these patterns can be ambiguously interpreted as reflectance or illuminance variations.
  • Understanding this ambiguity is crucial for visual processing models.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the ambiguity in perceiving luminance changes in disk-and-annulus patterns.
  • To determine if varying annulus reflectance influences perception.
  • To differentiate between perceived reflectance and illuminance changes.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments were conducted using patch-and-surround patterns.
  • Experiment 1: Constant illumination with varying annulus luminance in Mondrian environments.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Experiments 2 & 3: Varied illumination or annulus reflectance with explicit instructions to participants.

    • Main Results:

    • Lightness and brightness matches were identical across all experimental conditions.
    • Perceived reflectance and illuminance gradients were indistinguishable.
    • Ambiguity in disk-and-annulus patterns was confirmed regardless of context or instructions.

    Conclusions:

    • The human visual system struggles to definitively distinguish between reflectance and illuminance changes in disk-and-annulus stimuli.
    • Perceptual interpretation is highly context-dependent and susceptible to ambiguity.
    • Further research is needed to refine models of visual surface perception.