Lightness and brightness judgments of coplanar retinally noncontiguous surfaces.

Several experiments reveal that judgments of lightness and brightness of an achromatic surface depend, in part, on the luminances of other surfaces perceived to share the same depth plane, even if the surfaces are well separated on the retina. Two Mondrians, simulated on a CRT, were viewed through a haploscope. The more highly illuminated Mondrian contained a comparison patch and appeared nearer than the more dimly illuminated Mondrian, which contained the test patch. By independently varying the disparity of the test patch, observers could make the test patch appear to be in the depth plane of either the dimly or the highly illuminated Mondrian. Observers set the luminance of the test patch to match that of the comparison patch. The test was set as high as 15% more luminous when it was perceived in the depth plane of the highly illuminated rather than the dimly illuminated Mondrian. Both brightness and lightness judgments were affected by the perceived depth of the test, although the lightness judgments of inexperienced observers sometimes were dominated by local-contrast matching.