Do surface reflectance properties and 3-D mesostructure influence the perception of lightness?

A series of experiments were conducted to assess how the reflectance properties and the complexity of surface "mesostructure" (small-scale 3-D relief) influence perceived lightness. Experiment 1 evaluated the role of surface relief and gloss on perceived lightness. For surfaces with visible mesostructure, lightness constancy was better for targets embedded in glossy than matte surfaces. The results for surfaces that lacked surface relief were qualitatively different than the 3-D surrounds, exhibiting abrupt steps in perceived lightness at points at which the targets transition from being increments to decrements. Experiments 2 and 4 compared the matte and glossy 3-D surrounds to two control displays, which matched either pixel histograms or a phase-scrambled power spectrum, respectively. Although some improved lightness constancy was observed for the 3-D gloss display over the histogram-matched display, this benefit was not observed for phase-scrambled variants of these images with equated power spectrums. These results suggest that the improved lightness constancy observed with 3-D surfaces can be well explained by the distribution of contrast across space and scale, independently of explicit information about surface shading or specularity whereas the putatively "simpler" flat displays may evoke more complex midlevel representations similar to that evoked in conditions of transparency.