The Effect of Attention on Brightness Contrast and Assimilation

Festinger, Léon; Coren, Stanley; Rivers, Geoffrey

doi:10.2307/1421323

Cited by 84 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…According to the level of the visual process they refer to, researchers have provided three interpretations of this relationship. The first asserts that both the phenomena occur at a peripheral level of the visual system (Helson, 1964;DeValois & DeValois, 1975;Hurvich & Jameson, 1966;1974;Jameson & Hurvich, 1975;Reid & Shapley, 1988); the second attributes their occurrence to more central mechanisms (Musatti, 1931;1953;Festinger, Coren & Rivers, 1970;de Weert and Van Kruysbergen 1997;Kanizsa, 1979), and the third claims that contrast involves central mechanisms whilst assimilation involves peripheral ones (Gilchrist et al, 1999). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Von Bezold Assimilation Effect Reverses in Stereoscopic Conditions

2010

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The present research was aimed at testing these hypotheses. An experiment on an IT system equipped with goggles for stereo vision was run. Observers were asked to evaluate the lightness of a grey target, and two variables were systematically manipulated: (i) Inducers' apparent distance; and (ii) Inducers' intensity. In all the conditions, the retinal stimulation was kept constant, thus, the peripheral processes remained the same along the experiment.Results show that the lightness of the target depends on both the experimental variables. As the retinal stimulation was kept constant, we conclude that central mechanisms are involved in both the phenomena.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second interpretation suggests that this shift is generated by more central mechanisms of visual processing, such as figure/ground segmentation (Musatti, 1931;1953;Festinger, Coren & Rivers, 1970;de Weert and Van Kruysbergen 1997) and observer expertise (Kanizsa, 1979).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Von Bezold Assimilation Effect Reverses in Stereoscopic Conditions

2010

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“…tinger, Coren, & Rivers, 1970) to stimuli that usually produce assimilation, subjects will begin to report contrast. If subjects are given feedback during an absolute judgment task, the degree of response assimilation increases and the degree of stimulus contrast decreases (Ward & Lockhead, 1970.…”

Section: Variables Affecting Size Of Cumulative Successive Contrastmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of cumulative successive contrast in saltiness intensity judgments

Schifferstein¹,

Oudejans²

1996

Perception & Psychophysics

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When all stimuli elicit the same taste quality, solutions preceded by a high concentration level are judged to be significantly less intense than solutions preceded by a low concentration level. After repetitious stimulation with a different tasting stimulus, the intensity of the present stimulus is overestimated. This phenomenon is called "successive contrast." In the present study, the cumulative effects of three identical stimuli on the saltiness ratings for a test stimulus are investigated. The preceding stimuli are manipulated with regard to taste quality, saltiness intensity, total taste intensity, and complexity. Whether the size of the cumulative contrast effect is associated with the degree of dissimilarity between preceding stimuli and test stimulus, or with the saltiness or total taste intensity of the preceding stimuli, is investigated. The size of the contrast effect depends on the type of preceding stimulus, its intensity, and the type of test stimulus. No association was found with judgments of the degree of dissimilarity between the preceding stimuli and the test stimulus. For nonsalty preceding stimuli, the contrast effects are independent of concentration level. When the preceding stimuli taste at least partly salty, the total intensity appears to determine the size of the contrast for an unmixed salty test stimulus.

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“…Festinger, Coren and Rivers (1970) explained the occurrence of contrast or assimilation in terms of foreground / background perception: if part of a stimulus is considered foreground, contrast occurs between this part and the background, but if the same part of the stimulus is seen as background assimilation occurs within this part. This implies that the occurrence of assimilation does not precede figure-ground separation, or at least is dependent upon this separation to some extent.…”

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confidence: 99%

Assimilation: Central and Peripheral Effects

Weert

Kruysbergen

1997

Perception

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Assimilation and contrast have opposite effects: Contrast leads to an increase of perceived differences between neighbouring fields, whereas assimilation leads to a reduction. It is relatively easy to demonstrate these effects, but the precise localisation of these effects in the perceptual system is not yet possible. In an experiment the strength of assimilation effects was modified by adding spatial noise. By varying the localisation in perceived space of the added noise (by presentation of the noise pattern with different binocular disparities) the masking effect of this noise can be influenced. Masking caused by binocularly disparate noise is less than masking caused by binocularly non-disparate noise. Our conclusion is that the effect at least partly occurs beyond the (binocular) locus of separation in different depth planes. A similar approach, involving moving noise, will also be presented. Finally, several demonstrations show that images that are peripherally similar can give rise to differences in the perceived amount of assimilation. These effects further indicate that a central mechanism is involved in assimilation. Assimilation is a perceived change in colour and/or brightness in one part of a picture in the direction of the colour and/or brightness of another part or other parts in the picture. The simplest case is a change in perceived colour of the background in the direction of the colour parts belonging to the foreground. Assimilation is more common in daily visual scenes than the better known simultaneous contrast effect DeValois and DeValois, 1988). Since the discovery of receptive fields with a centersurround structure, lateral inhibition has been the most popular tool for explaining basic visual processes. Undoubtedly it is an important mechanism. The shape of the luminance contrast modulation transfer function can easily be understood on the basis of the mechanism of lateral inhibition, which in turn, finds its physiological basis in spatial opponency of the center-surround receptive fields. Assimilation has been known for a long time (Von Bezold, 1874;Helson, 1963). Kanizsa (1979) described a particular aspect of the assimilation effect, namely the influence of the observer s attitude. Assimilation effects are most distinct if the observer does not fixate steadily. In fact, he stated that an untrained observer clearly perceives assimilation, whereas a trained observer like a painter, is less certain whether contrast or assimilation occurs (Kanizsa was both a painter and a scolar of visual perception. Kanisza ascribed this difference to the distinction that trained

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The Effect of Attention on Brightness Contrast and Assimilation

Cited by 84 publications

References 0 publications

Von Bezold Assimilation Effect Reverses in Stereoscopic Conditions

Von Bezold Assimilation Effect Reverses in Stereoscopic Conditions

Determinants of cumulative successive contrast in saltiness intensity judgments

Assimilation: Central and Peripheral Effects

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