Classical and inverted White's effects.
In classical White's effect, intermediate-luminance targets appear lighter when they interrupt the dark stripes of a grating and darker when they interrupt the light stripes. The effect is reversed when targets are of double-increment or double-decrement luminance, relative to the luminances of grating stripes. To find a common explanation for classical and inverted effects, we ran two experiments. In experiment 1, we utilised intermediate-target displays to show that perceived transparency dominates over occlusion only when the target luminance is close to the luminances of top regions. This result weakens transparency-based accounts of White's effect. In experiment 2, we varied grating contrast and target luminance to measure the classical effect in seven intermediate-target cases, as well as the inverted effect in four double-increment and four double-decrement cases. Both types of effect are explained by a common model, based on assimilation to the top region and contrast with the interrupted region, weighted by adjacency along the luminance continuum.
Ripamonti
C
C
Colour and Imaging Institute, University of Derby, Kingsway House, Derby DE22 3HL, UK. c.ripamonti@derby.ac.uk
Gerbino
W
W
D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009903:Optical Illusions; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D011601:Psychophysics