TY - JOUR
T1 - Apparent surface curvature affects lightness perception
AU - Knill, David C.
AU - Kersten, Daniel
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1991
Y1 - 1991
N2 - The human visual system has the remarkable capacity to perceive accurately the lightness, or relative reflectance, of surfaces, even though much of the variation in image luminance may be caused by other scene attributes, such as shape and illumination. Most physiological1,2, and computational models3-6 of lightness perception invoke early sensory mechanisms that act independently of, or before, the estimation of other scene attributes. In contrast to the modularity of lightness perception assumed in these models are experiments that show that supposedly 'higher-order' percepts of planar surface attributes, such as orientation, depth and transparency7-10, can influence perceived lightness. Here we show that perceived surface curvature can also affect perceived lightness. The results of the earlier experiments indicate that perceiving luminance edges as changes in surface attributes other than reflectance can influence lightness. These results suggest that the interpretation of smooth variations in luminance can also affect lightness percepts.
AB - The human visual system has the remarkable capacity to perceive accurately the lightness, or relative reflectance, of surfaces, even though much of the variation in image luminance may be caused by other scene attributes, such as shape and illumination. Most physiological1,2, and computational models3-6 of lightness perception invoke early sensory mechanisms that act independently of, or before, the estimation of other scene attributes. In contrast to the modularity of lightness perception assumed in these models are experiments that show that supposedly 'higher-order' percepts of planar surface attributes, such as orientation, depth and transparency7-10, can influence perceived lightness. Here we show that perceived surface curvature can also affect perceived lightness. The results of the earlier experiments indicate that perceiving luminance edges as changes in surface attributes other than reflectance can influence lightness. These results suggest that the interpretation of smooth variations in luminance can also affect lightness percepts.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0025881712&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0025881712&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/351228a0
DO - 10.1038/351228a0
M3 - Article
C2 - 2041568
AN - SCOPUS:0025881712
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 351
SP - 228
EP - 230
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 6323
ER -