Abstract
Changes of annulus luminance in traditional disk-and-annulus patterns are perceptually ambiguous; they could be either reflectance or illuminance changes. In more complicated patterns, apparent reflectances are less ambiguous, letting us place test and standard patchesjnpxsurrounds perceived to be different grays. Our subjects matched the apparent amounts of light coming from the patches (brightnesses), their apparent reflectances (lightnesses), or the brightness differences between the patches and their surrounds (brightness contrasts). The three criteria produced quantitatively different results. Brightness contrasts matched when the patch/surround luminance ratio of the test was approximately equal to that of the standard. Lightness matches were illumination invariant but were not exact reflectance matches; the different surrounda of test and standard produced a small illumination-invariant error. This constant error was negligible for increments, but, for decrements, it was approximately 1.5 Munsell value steps. Brightness matches covaried substantially with illuminance.
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Paul Whittle and three anonymous reviewers provided numerous helpful suggestions. This research was supported by Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grants AFOSR 86-0128 and AFOSR 89-0377 to L.E.A. B.S. was supported by NSF Grant BNS-8909182 to A. L. Gilchrist.
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Arend, L.E., Spehar, B. Lightness, brightness, and brightness contrast: 1. Illuminance variation. Perception & Psychophysics 54, 446–456 (1993). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211767
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211767