Infant lightness perception: do 4-month-old infants follow Wallach's ratio rule?

Full Abstract

When adults view a test disk embedded in a higher-luminance surround, the perceived lightness of the disk is largely determined by the surround-to-disk (S/D) luminance ratio (Wallach's ratio rule). Performance of 4-month-old infants tested with a forced-choice novelty-preference technique was consistent with predictions based on Wallach's ratio rule. This result suggests that the ability to extract and maintain information about local luminance ratios is present early in infancy. This ability is likely to contribute to the development of lightness constancy.

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Author information

Author/s: Chien, Sarina Hui-Lin (SH); Palmer, John (J); Teller, Davida Y (DY);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-1525, USA. hchien(-atsign-)u.washington.edu

Grants: EY01730 (Agency:United States NEI) ; EY04470 (Agency:United States NEI)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jul; vol 14 (issue 4) : pp 291-5

Dates: Created 2003/06/16; Completed 2003/09/29; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 12807399, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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