Mesopic lightness, brightness, and brightness contrast

At mesopic mean luminances, a fixed luminance contrast produces less brightness contrast than it does at photopic luminances. This suggests that lightnesses of surfaces might also be altered at low luminances. I measured lightness, brightness, and brightness contrast in CRT simulations of achromatic paper patchworks. The illuminance of the standard pattern was fixed, producing 0.12, 1.2, or 12 cd/m2. The illuminance on the test pattern was varied in a lightness constancy paradigm. Constant brightness contrast required more luminance contrast at lower mean luminances. Failures of lightness constancy occurred at the lowest mean luminances, but they were minor in comparison with the loss of brightness contrast in the same pattern. These results have implications for imaging applications. Often, image content falls in both the photopic and the mesopic ranges. Our results indicate that brightness contrast may decrease substantially in low-luminance regions without large changes of surface lightness.