Abstract
Four experiments were designed to investigate the nature of the relationship between brightness contrast and brightness constancy while controlling the response criterion, the area of the surround, the stimulus configuration, and the mode of appearance of the modulus target. Ten Os in each of the four experiments estimated the apparent whiteness or brightness of targets with different contrast ratios. All targets were viewed at several illumination levels. Most constancy (whiteness and brightness) functions displayed shallow slopes that reflected a good approximation to constancy. The functions within Experiments I, III, and IV were vertically displaced and parallel; those in Experiment II were vertically displaced and increased in slope. This suggests that decreasing the contrast ratio had no effect on the tendency towards constancy when the area of the surround was greater than that of the target but resulted in a decrease in constancy when the area of the surround was equal to that of the target.
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This research was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Boston University.
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Haimson, B.R. The response criterion, the stimulus configuration, and the relationship between brightness contrast and brightness constancy. Perception & Psychophysics 16, 347–354 (1974). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203954
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203954