title: Nonmonotone backward masking functions and brightness reversals.
abstract: Increasing the target-field luminance aids detection for a simultaneously presented black target disc and a black masking annulus. At an intermediate interval separating the onset of the target from the mask, increasing the target-field luminance reduces target detection. This decrease in performance occurs with both temporal and spatial forced choice tasks. With a spatial forced choice, an observer's performance can fall below chance. We associate below-chance performance with a brightness reversal of the black target disc, such that the target disc appears brighter than its surround. The occurrence of brightness reversals follows from our model of the Broca-Sulzer effect, and nonmonotone masking functions result from a generalization of luminance summation.
authors: Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA. alouisstewart@gmail.com
authors: Alan L
authors: AL
authors: Stewart
authors: Dean G
authors: DG
authors: Purcell
authors: Roger S
authors: RS
authors: Pinkham
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D002755:Choice Behavior; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D012193:Reversal Learning; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological; D014794:Visual Fields