The Venetian Blind Effect, Binocular Luster, and Binocular Rivalry

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Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship

Spring 2008

The Venetian blind effect, binocular luster, and binocular rivalry

Richard S. Hetley University of New Hampshire, Durham

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Recommended Citation Hetley, Richard S., "The Venetian blind effect, binocular luster, and binocular rivalry" (2008). Doctoral Dissertations. 424. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/424

This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE VENETIAN BLIND EFFECT, BINOCULAR LUSTER,

AND BINOCULAR RIVALRY ' '

RICHARD S. HETLEY

BA, University of Maine, 2003

MA, University of New Hampshire, 2005

DISSERTATION

Submitted to the University of New Hampshire

in Partial Fulfillment of

the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Psychology

May, 2008 UMI Number: 3308374

INFORMATION TO USERS

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

Richard S. Hetley This dissertation has been examined and approved.

Dissertation Director, William Wren Stine Associate Professor of Psychology

Kenneth Fuld Associate Dean of Liberal Arts, Professor of Psychology

Brett M. Gibson Assistant Professor of Psychology c John E. Sparrow Lssefciate Professor of\Psy£hology (UNH Manchester)

Colin Ware Professor of Computer Science and Ocean Engineering

Date iv

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am indebted to my advisor, Bill Stine, and all the members of my dissertation committee for their invaluable assistance in all aspects of this dissertation. I am also indebted to Joshua Dobias for his assistance in the laboratory, and all the experimental participants in my various studies.

During my research, I have received funding from a graduate assistantship from the University of New Hampshire, a summer fellowship, a travel grant, and federal work- study. V

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v '

LIST OF FIGURES vii

ABSTRACT ix

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

Notes on Terminology 6

Perceived Rotation 7

Light Bars and Dark Bars Versus Average Luminance and Contrast 16

Binocular Luster 19

The Relation between Stimuli and the Background 27

Fluorence 29

Binocular Rivalry 32

Literature Summary and Rationale for Current Research 39

CHAPTER II: GENERAL METHODS 42

Participants 42

Apparatus 42

Procedure 43

Methods for Data Analysis 45

CHAPTER III: EXPERIMENT I 46

Stimuli 46

Results 48

Discussion 51 vi

CHAPTER IV: EXPERIMENT II 54

Stimuli 54

Results 58

Discussion 63

CHAPTER V: EXPERIMENT III 67

Stimuli 67

Results 70

Discussion 78

CHAPTER VI: GENERAL DISCUSSION 79

REFERENCES 88

APPENDICES 93

APPENDIX A: Permissions 94

APPENDIX B: Institutional Review Board Documentation 98 vii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Square-wave grating for demonstrating the Venetian blind effect 1

Figure 2. Viewing a square-wave grating with no disparity 2

Figure 3. Viewing a square-wave grating with a geometric disparity 2

Figure 4. Viewing a square-wave grating with a luminance disparity 3

Figure 5. Dichoptic square-wave grating with a luminance disparity 7

Figure 6. The Cibis & Haber (1951) explanation for the Venetian blind effect 8

Figure 7. Dichoptic sinewave grating with a contrast disparity on a black surround 9

Figure 8. Dichoptic sinewave grating with a spatial frequency disparity 10

Figure 9. Dichoptic sinewave grating with a contrast disparity on a gray surround 11

Figure 10. Dichoptic square-wave grating with a contrast disparity 12

Figure 11. Sample Experiment I image with no disparity 13

Figure 12. Data from Filley (1998) 17

Figure 13. Data from Filley (1998) replotted against the luminance of the light bars ... 18

Figure 14. Dichoptic crystal image for demonstrating binocular luster 20

Figure 15. Dichoptic Mondrian image for demonstrating binocular luster 20

Figure 16. Side view of specular reflection 22

Figure 17. Top view of specular reflection 22

Figure 18. Dichoptic half-crystal, half-gratings image 23

Figure 19. Dichoptic half-Mondrian, half-gratings image 23

Figure 20. Dichoptic gratings for demonstrating binocular rivalry 32

Figure 21. Dichoptic circles for demonstrating unitary rivalry 33

Figure 22. Dichoptic circles for demonstrating mosaic rivalry 34 viii

Figure 23. Dichoptic circles with a less intense luminance disparity 37

Figure 24. Ambiguous cube image 38

Figure 25. Sample Experiment I (grating) image, luminance disparity condition '....'. 46

Figure 26. Sample Experiment I (grating) image, contrast disparity condition 47

Figure 27. Experiment I data for JJD 48

Figure 28. Experiment I data for RSH 49

Figure 29. Experiment I data for WWS 50

Figure 30. Sample Experiment II (plain bars) "average luminance" image 55

Figure 31. Sample Experiment II (plain bars) "light luminance bars" image 56

Figure 32. Sample Experiment II (plain bars) "light contrast bars" image 56

Figure 33. Sample Experiment II (plain bars) "dark bars" image 57

Figure 34. Experiment II data for JJD 59

Figure 35. Experiment II data for RSH 60

Figure 36. Experiment II data for WWS 61

Figure 37. Adaptation and background luminance conditions for Experiment III 68

Figure 38. Sample Experiment III image, 21.25 cd/m2 background luminance 69

Figure 39. Sample Experiment III image, 63.75 cd/m2 background luminance 69

Figure 40. Experiment III data for JJD 71

Figure 41. Experiment III data for RSH 72

Figure 42. Experiment III data for WWS 73

Figure 43. Experiment III thresholds for JJD 74

Figure 44. Experiment III thresholds for RSH 75

Figure 45. Experiment III thresholds for WWS 76 ix

ABSTRACT

THE VENETIAN BLIND EFFECT, BINOCULAR LUSTER,

" AND BINOCULAR RIVALRY

Richard S. Hetley

University of New Hampshire, May, 2008

When one views a square-wave grating and changes the average luminance or contrast of the monocular images relative to each other, at least three perceptual phenomena occur. These are the Venetian blind effect, or a perceived rotation of the bars around individual vertical axes; binocular luster, or a perceived shimmering; and binocular rivalry, or an alternating perception between the views of the two eyes. In this paper, it is shown that increasing the dichoptic luminance modulation leads to these three phenomena in sequence, while increasing dic