Abstract
Observers compared two center/surround configurations haploscopically. One configuration consisted of a standard surface surrounded by two, three, or four surfaces, each with a different luminance. The other configuration consisted of a comparison surface surrounded by a single annulus that varied in luminance. Center surfaces always had the same luminance but only appeared to have the same lightness with certain annuli (equivalent backgrounds). For most displays, the luminance needed to obtain an equivalent background was close to the highest luminance in the standard surround configuration. Models based on the space-average luminance or the space-average contrast of the standard surround configuration yielded poorer fits. Implications for computational models of lightness and for candidate solutions to the anchoring problem are discussed.
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This work was supported in part by CNR 9504106.11. The present research was discussed at the Trieste Encounter in Cognitive Science: “Illumination in Object-Oriented Vision,” SISSA, Trieste, Italy, June 1995.
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Bruno, N., Bernardis, P. & Schirillo, J. Lightness, equivalent backgrounds, and anchoring. Perception & Psychophysics 59, 643–654 (1997). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206012
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206012