A cortical edge-integration model of object-based lightness computation that explains effects of spatial context and individual differences

Previous work has demonstrated that perceived surface reflectance (lightness) can be modeled in simple contexts in a quantitatively exact way by assuming that the visual system first extracts information about local, directed steps in log luminance, then spatially integrates these steps along paths through the image to compute lightness (Rudd and Zemach, 2004, 2005, 2007). This method of computing lightness is called edge integration. Recent evidence (Rudd, 2013) suggests that human vision employs a default strategy to integrate luminance steps only along paths from a common background region to the targets whose lightness is computed. This implies a role for gestalt grouping in edge-based lightness computation. Rudd (2010) further showed the perceptual weights applied to edges in lightness computation can be influenced by the observer's interpretation of luminance steps as resulting from either spatial variation in surface reflectance or illumination. This implies a role for top-down factors in any edge-based model of lightness (Rudd and Zemach, 2005). Here, I show how the separate influences of grouping and attention on lightness can be modeled in tandem by a cortical mechanism that first employs top-down signals to spatially select regions of interest for lightness computation. An object-based network computation, involving neurons that code for border-ownership, then automatically sets the neural gains applied to edge signals surviving the earlier spatial selection stage. Only the borders that survive both processing stages are spatially integrated to compute lightness. The model assumptions are consistent with those of the cortical lightness model presented earlier by Rudd (2010, 2013), and with neurophysiological data indicating extraction of local edge information in V1, network computations to establish figure-ground relations and border ownership in V2, and edge integration to encode lightness and darkness signals in V4.

[1]  A. Gilchrist,et al.  Local and global processes in surface lightness perception , 1995, Perception & psychophysics.

[2]  L. Saksida,et al.  Visual perception and memory: a new view of medial temporal lobe function in primates and rodents. , 2007, Annual review of neuroscience.

[3]  M. Chevreul,et al.  The principles of harmony and contrast of colours, and their applications to the arts : including painting, interior decoration, tapestries, carpets, mosaics, coloured glazing, paper-staining, calico-printing, letterpress printing, map-colouring, dress, landscape and flower gardening, etc. , 1969 .

[4]  Tony Vladusich,et al.  Gamut relativity: a new computational approach to brightness and lightness perception. , 2013, Journal of vision.

[5]  G. Kanizsa,et al.  Organization in Vision: Essays on Gestalt Perception , 1979 .

[6]  David A. Freedman,et al.  The Nature of Psychology. , 1966 .

[7]  P. Bressan.  The place of white in a world of grays: a double-anchoring theory of lightness perception. , 2006, Psychological review.

[8]  M. Rudd.  Edge integration in achromatic color perception and the lightness-darkness asymmetry. , 2013, Journal of vision.

[9]  M. Rudd,et al.  Darkness filling-in: a neural model of darkness induction , 2001, Vision Research.

[10]  Nao Ninomiya,et al.  The 10th anniversary of journal of visualization , 2007, J. Vis..

[11]  E. Land.  The retinex theory of color vision. , 1977, Scientific American.

[12]  H. Wallach,et al.  The perception of neutral colors. , 1963, Scientific American.

[13]  C. Gilbert,et al.  Top-down influences on visual processing , 2013, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[14]  Anitha Pasupathy,et al.  Equiluminance Cells in Visual Cortical Area V4 , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[15]  Ana Radonjić,et al.  Functional frameworks of illumination revealed by probe disk technique. , 2010, Journal of vision.

[16]  J. C. Stevens,et al.  Brightness inhibition re size of surround , 1967 .

[17]  A. Gilchrist.  Lightness contrast and failures of constancy: A common explanation , 1988, Perception & psychophysics.

[18]  M. Rudd,et al.  The highest luminance anchoring rule in achromatic color perception: some counterexamples and an alternative theory. , 2005, Journal of vision.

[19]  P. Whittle.  Brightness, discriminability and the “Crispening Effect” , 1992, Vision Research.

[20]  R. von der Heydt,et al.  Illusory contours and cortical neuron responses. , 1984, Science.

[21]  M. McCourt,et al.  Similar mechanisms underlie simultaneous brightness contrast and grating induction , 1997, Vision Research.

[22]  Michael E. Rudd,et al.  Lightness computation by a neural filling-in mechanism , 2001, IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging.

[23]  G. Caputo,et al.  The problem of being white: Testing the highest luminance rule , 2004 .

[24]  Rüdiger von der Heydt,et al.  Neural coding of border ownership: Implications for the theory of figure-ground Perception , 2003 .

[25]  Eric G. Heinemann,et al.  Simultaneous Brightness Induction , 1972 .

[26]  C. Casco,et al.  The influence of contrast and spatial factors in the perceived shape of boundaries , 2003, Perception & psychophysics.

[27]  S. Grossberg,et al.  Neural dynamics of form perception: boundary completion, illusory figures, and neon color spreading. , 1985, Psychological review.

[28]  B. Anderson.  The role of occlusion in the perception of depth, lightness, and opacity. , 2003, Psychological review.

[29]  H. Komatsu,et al.  Neural representation of the luminance and brightness of a uniform surface in the macaque primary visual cortex. , 2001, Journal of neurophysiology.

[30]  S. Anstis.  Contour adaptation. , 2013, Journal of vision.

[31]  Vivian O'Brien,et al.  Contour Perception, Illusion and Reality* , 1958 .

[32]  Frans W Cornelissen,et al.  Edge integration and the perception of brightness and darkness. , 2006, Journal of vision.

[33]  E. Land,et al.  Lightness and retinex theory. , 1971, Journal of the Optical Society of America.

[34]  A. Gelb.  Die „Farbenkonstanz“ der Sehdinge , 1929 .

[35]  M. Kuefer.  Psychophysics Introduction To Its Perceptual Neural And Social Prospects , 2016 .

[36]  Fred Rieke,et al.  Asymmetries between ON and OFF responses in primate vision first arise in photoreceptors , 2013 .

[37]  R. Shapley,et al.  Brightness induction by local contrast and the spatial dependence of assimilation , 1988, Vision Research.

[38]  R. Haber,et al.  Visual Perception , 2018, Encyclopedia of Database Systems.

[39]  E. Adelson.  Lightness Perception and Lightness Illusions , 1999 .

[40]  A. Oliva,et al.  Coarse Blobs or Fine Edges? Evidence That Information Diagnosticity Changes the Perception of Complex Visual Stimuli , 1997, Cognitive Psychology.

[41]  A. AlanGilchrist.  Seeing in Black and White , 2006 .

[42]  R. von der Heydt,et al.  A neural model of figure-ground organization. , 2007, Journal of neurophysiology.

[43]  M. Rudd,et al.  Stevens's brightness law, contrast gain control, and edge integration in achromatic color perception: a unified model. , 2007, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[44]  David H. Raab,et al.  Magnitude Estimation of the Brightness of Brief Foveal Stimuli , 1962, Science.

[45]  S. W. Kuffler.  Discharge patterns and functional organization of mammalian retina. , 1953, Journal of neurophysiology.

[46]  M. Rudd.  A neural timing model of visual threshold , 1996 .

[47]  R. von der Heydt,et al.  Coding of Border Ownership in Monkey Visual Cortex , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[48]  Frederick A.A. Kingdom,et al.  Lightness, brightness and transparency: A quarter century of new ideas, captivating demonstrations and unrelenting controversy , 2011, Vision Research.

[49]  Marcel P. Lucassen,et al.  Brightness and Darkness as Perceptual Dimensions , 2007, PLoS Comput. Biol..

[50]  H. Piéron,et al.  II. Recherches sur les lois de variation des temps de latence sensorielle en fonction des intensités excitatrices , 1913 .

[51]  L. Arend,et al.  Lightness, brightness, and brightness contrast: 1. Illuminance variation , 1993, Perception & psychophysics.

[52]  M. McCourt,et al.  Spatial filtering versus anchoring accounts of brightness/lightness perception in staircase and simultaneous brightness/lightness contrast stimuli. , 2009, Journal of vision.

[53]  S. Zeki,et al.  Toward a Theory of Visual Consciousness , 1999, Consciousness and Cognition.

[54]  A. Gilchrist,et al.  An anchoring theory of lightness perception. , 1999, Psychological review.

[55]  L. Arend,et al.  Lightness, brightness, and brightness contrast: 2. Reflectance variation , 1993, Perception & psychophysics.

[56]  B. Pinna,et al.  Surface color from boundaries: a new ‘watercolor’ illusion , 2001, Vision Research.

[57]  M. Rudd.  How attention and contrast gain control interact to regulate lightness contrast and assimilation: a computational neural model. , 2010, Journal of vision.

[58]  Kennehi J. W. Craik,et al.  THE NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY: A SELECTION OF PAPERS, ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS , 1966 .

[59]  A. L. Diamond,et al.  Foveal simultaneous brightness contrast as a function of inducing-and test-field luminances. , 1953, Journal of experimental psychology.

[60]  In-Seuck Jeung,et al.  Investigation of the pseudo-shock wave in a two-dimensional supersonic inlet , 2010, J. Vis..

[61]  H. Wilson,et al.  Modified line-element theory for spatial-frequency and width discrimination. , 1984, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[62]  Tony Vladusich.  Brightness scaling according to gamut relativity , 2014 .

[63]  Michael E. Rudd,et al.  Progress on a computational model of achromatic color processing , 2003, IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging.

[64]  M. Rudd,et al.  Quantitative properties of achromatic color induction: An edge integration analysis , 2004, Vision Research.

[65]  B. Wandell,et al.  Compressive spatial summation in human visual cortex. , 2013, Journal of neurophysiology.

[66]  Jonathan Winawer,et al.  Image segmentation and lightness perception , 2005, Nature.

[67]  T. Vladusich,et al.  Do cortical neurons process luminance or contrast to encode surface properties? , 2006, Journal of neurophysiology.

[68]  J. Movshon,et al.  The statistical reliability of signals in single neurons in cat and monkey visual cortex , 1983, Vision Research.

[69]  M. Rudd,et al.  Contrast polarity and edge integration in achromatic color perception. , 2007, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.