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research article

Capturing lightness between contours

Vergeer, Mark
•
van Lier, Rob
2010
Perception

Homogeneously coloured bars may exhibit lightness differences at the intersections. A well-known example is the Hermann grid illusion, where crossing white bars on a black background show dark patches at the crossings. Jung (1973, Handbook of Sensory Physiology volume VII/3, pp 1-152) found that the dark patches persist when thin outlines are drawn at the intersections, and are even visible in foveal vision. Recently, it has been shown that making distortions to the contours of a Hermann grid-like configuration results in the disappearance of the illusory dark spots (Geier et al, 2008 Perception 37 651-665). We show that thin outlines at the crossings of the distorted Hermann grid induce lightness differences in the same direction as in the original Hermann grid illusion, even in foveal vision and in displays consisting of two crossing bars. Our experiments reveal that the induced lightness differences are independent of the luminance polarity and shape of the contours at the intersection. We suggest that the effect results from lateral inhibition and an additional spreading and capturing of these differences between luminance contours. A similar capturing between collinear contours may play a role in peripheral vision in the original Hermann grid.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1068/p6539
Author(s)
Vergeer, Mark
van Lier, Rob
Date Issued

2010

Published in
Perception
Volume

39

Issue

12

Start page

1565

End page

1578

Subjects

lightness

•

contours

•

Hermann grid

•

filling-in

•

brightness

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

OTHER

EPFL units
BMI  
Available on Infoscience
December 1, 2010
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/61697
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