title: Infant lightness perception: do 4-month-old infants follow Wallach's ratio rule?
abstract: When adults view a test disk embedded in a higher-luminance surround, the perceived lightness of the disk is largely determined by the surround-to-disk (S/D) luminance ratio (Wallach's ratio rule). Performance of 4-month-old infants tested with a forced-choice novelty-preference technique was consistent with predictions based on Wallach's ratio rule. This result suggests that the ability to extract and maintain information about local luminance ratios is present early in infancy. This ability is likely to contribute to the development of lightness constancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-1525, USA. hchien@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Sarina Hui-Lin
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Davida Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Teller
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D003210:Concept Formation; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011601:Psychophysics; D014796:Visual Perception