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266 R. M . SHAPLEY AND C .

ENROTH-CUGELL

1.1.4. CONTRAST, CONTRAST SENSITIVITY, AND CONTRAST contrast, which are each appropriate for a particular
GAIN kind of stimulus, the two different definitions are
Contrast is a physical property of the visual related because they refer to a single physical reality,
stimulus; it is the magnitude of luminance variation namely the relative variation of a modulated
in the stimulus relative to the average luminance. component referred to a steady state, or average,
We will show that the perception of contrast component.
depends upon retinal adaptation. There is a problem Contrast sensitivity we define as one divided by
with defining contrast precisely because there are the psychophysical threshold contrast, either Weber
two obvious definitions which differ approximately or Rayleigh contrast as the case may be. Contrast
by a factor of two. In studying the visibility of gain is neural response divided by stimulus contrast
aperiodic objects like uniform disks or bars or (Weber or Rayleigh) and will have units mV per unit
rectangles on a background, the natural definition contrast, or (impulses/s) per unit contrast.
of contrast is At low contrast, the Rayleigh contrast of a
grating is approximately one half the Weber
C = (Lo-LB)/(LB) (la)
contrast, as can be seen by comparing equation (1)
with equation (3) as applied to Fig. 1. The Rayleigh
where Lo is the luminance of the object and LB the
luminance of the background, as indicated in Fig. (a)
l(a). Lo - - LB is usually called M_~ and so equation APERIODIC STIMULUS
(1) is usually written as:
I Background
C = AL/LB. (lb)
[L, ILo
It is well known that for test stimuli of large area
the psychophysical sensitivity follows Weber's Law

ALT/L B = k (2a)
(b) PERIODIC STIMULUS
CT = k (2b)

where ALT is the threshold luminance increment,


and k is a constant, the threshold contrast. C is
referred to in the psychophysical literature as the
Weber fraction, but we prefer to call it the Weber
contrast, Cw.
There is a second definition of contrast which is
used for periodic spatial patterns like sine gratings.
This is the definition used implicitly by Rayleigh
(1889) and more explicitly by Michelson (1927) to LMEAN
express the visibility of interference fringes:

CR = (tmax-Lmin)/(Lma x +Lmin) (3)


= (Zmax-Lmin)/(2 L . . . . )- FIG. 1. The two kinds of contrast.
(a). Weber contrast is illustrated by a one-dimensional plot
As seen in Fig. l(b), Lma x is the m a x i m u m of the luminance profile of a bright object on a background.
The Weber contrast is defined as (Lo-LB)/LB.
luminance and Lmi n the minimum luminance in the (b). Rayleigh contrast is illustrated with two different
spatially periodic pattern. We call CR the Rayleigh luminance profiles of grating patterns: the upper profile is
contrast. Both definitions of contrast have been of a square wave grating, the lower is the profile of a sine
grating. For each grating, the Rayleigh contrast is defined
used in the literature of adaptation, so we make as (Lmax-Lmin)/(Lmax+Lrnin). This is equivalent to the
them explicit here. It is important to realize that amplitude of the grating divided by the mean level, i.e.
though there are these two different definitions of (Lmax-Lmean) / Lmean .

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