Brightness exponent as a function of retinal eccentricity in the peripheral visual field: Effects of dark and light adaptation

Abstract

Using a method of direct magnitude estimation, the exponent of the brightness power function was determined under dark and light adaptation at luminance levels well above threshold. The exponent was estimated for functions describing the brightness of stimuli presented at the fovea and the following peripheral retinal loci: 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 deg nasally eccentric to the fovea along the horizontal meridian of the right eye. The exponent for a 1-sec flash was found to be approximately .33 at the fovea and increased slightly with increasing retinal eccentricity. The effect of adaptation on the brightness exponent was not so large when the target luminance was set well above threshold. © 1980 Psychonomic Society, Inc.