PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 3701481

Perception of blackness.

C M Cicerone·V J Volbrecht·S K Donnelly·J S Werner
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We sought to measure the mechanisms underlying the perception of blackness in the following way. A central spot (45') of fixed luminance was surrounded by a dark ring (7.5'), and surrounding all was an annular zone (30') of light. This stimulus was presented in Maxwellian view for 0.5 sec every 3 sec. The radiance of the annulus required to make the central area (spot and ring) appear uniformly black was measured for different wavelengths (440-660 nm) of the annulus. These measurements were made for test spots that were either broadband or of wavelength 480, 500, 580, or 660 nm. In all conditions the measured spectral efficiency of induced blackness matched the inverse of the V lambda function. Using the same stimulus, we have also measured increment-threshold functions. For a fixed luminance of the spot, the radiance of the surrounding annulus required to bring the central spot to threshold was measured. These increment-threshold functions do not match the V lambda or blackness functions. Our results show that induced blackness is inversely related to the luminous efficiency function and that the spectral efficiency of induced blackness is distinct from the increment-threshold function measured under these conditions. Furthermore, blackness appears to be independent of the wavelengths of the inducing annulus as well as of the central spot. Thus these results link induced blackness to the luminance pathway and argue against the involvement of the chromatic pathways in the perception of blackness.

Explore related subjects

Color PerceptionDiscrimination LearningFemaleFlicker FusionHumansPsychophysicsSensory ThresholdsJournal ArticleResearch Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

C M Cicerone, V J Volbrecht, S K Donnelly, J S Werner. 1986. Perception of blackness.. https://doi.org/10.1364/josaa.3.000432

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2006

Discrete color filling beyond luminance gaps along perceptual surfaces.

Perceived color at a point in space is not determined simply by the color directly stimulating the corresponding retinal position. Surface color is informed by flanking edge signals, which also serve to inhibit the intrusion of signals from neighboring surfaces. Spatially continuous local interactions among color and luminance signals have been implicated in a propagation process often referred to as filling-in. Here, we report a phenomenon of discrete color filling whereby color jumps over luminance gaps filling into disconnected regions of the stimulus. This color filling is found to be blocked at boundaries defined by texture. The color filling is also highly specific to the elements belonging to a common perceptual surface, even when multiple surfaces are transparently overlaid. Our results indicate that color filling can be governed by a host of visual cues outside the realm of first-order color and brightness, via their impact on perceptual surface segmentation and segregation.

Color Perception↗
PubMed2006

Combining local and global contributions to perceived colour: an analysis of the variability in symmetric and asymmetric colour matching.

Are surfaces' colours judged from weighted averages of the light that they reflect to the eyes and the colour contrast at their borders? To find out we asked subjects to set the colour and luminance of test disks to match reference disks, on various backgrounds, and analysed the variability in their settings. Most of the variability between repeated settings was in luminance. The standard deviations in the set colour were smallest when the disk and background were the same colour, irrespective of the colour itself. Matches were equally precise for greenish or reddish disks on a grey background, as for grey disks on a greenish or reddish background. The precision was less dependent on the colour contrast at the disks' borders when the backgrounds were more complex and when there was a large luminance contrast at the disks' borders. Subjects were less precise when different colours surrounded the two disks. These findings are consistent with the perceived colour at any position being a weighted average of the local cone excitation ratio and the change in the cone excitation ratio at the borders of the surface in question. However, the involved weights must be variable and depend systematically on parameters such as the luminance contrast at the surface's borders and other chromatic contrasts within the scene.

Color Perception↗
PubMed2006

Modularity beyond perception: evidence from single task interference paradigms.

We combine the Dimension-Action (DA) model with translational models to account for both the Stroop and the flanker effects. The basic assumption of the model is that there are distinct visual modules, each of which is endowed with both perception and response selection processes. We contrast this model with an alternative widespread view, the standard view, according to which the same response selection processes are shared by all tasks. The two views have different predictions concerning the flanker and Stroop tasks. Seven experiments test these predictions. The first five experiments show that there is a fundamental difference between the typical Stroop and flanker effects. Moreover, these experiments show that words denoting colors can affect print colors only when they are required for naming or when participants verbally mediate the print color task. Experiments 6 and 7 show that an analogous interaction between color and shape exists in the flanker task. These experiments as well as previous studies are consistent with the DA model and the modular view and pose serious difficulties for the standard view. Wider implications of a visual modular architecture are discussed as well.

Color Perception↗