Measurements of achromatic and chromatic contrast sensitivity functions for an extended range of adaptation luminance

Inspired by the ModelFest and ColorFest data sets, a contrast sensitivity function was measured for a wide range of adapting luminance levels. The measurements were motivated by the need to collect visual performance data for natural viewing of static images at a broad range of luminance levels, such as can be found in the case of high dynamic range displays. The detection of sine-gratings with Gaussian envelope was measured for achromatic color axis (black to white), two chromatic axes (green to red and yellow-green to violet) and two mixed chromatic and achromatic axes (dark-green to light-pink, and dark yellow to light-blue). The background luminance varied from 0.02 to 200 cd/m2. The spatial frequency of the gratings varied from 0.125 to 16 cycles per degree. More than four observers participated in the experiments and they individually determined the detection threshold for each stimulus using at least 20 trials of the QUEST method. As compared to the popular CSF models, we observed higher sensitivity drop for higher frequencies and significant differences in sensitivities in the luminance range between 0.02 and 2 cd/m2. Our measurements for chromatic CSF show a significant drop in sensitivity with luminance, but little change in the shape of the CSF. The drop of sensitivity at high frequencies is significantly weaker than reported in other studies and assumed in most chromatic CSF models.