Physics 1230: Light and Color Ivan I. Smalyukh, Instructor Office: Gamow Tower, F Phone: Lectures: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM Office hours: Mondays & Fridays, 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM TA: Jhih-An Yang Class # 18

Midterm Exam #2 2 HW4, Due Tuesday, Nov 8 Chapter 7 – finish today/Tuesday Exam Overview Tuesday/Thursday (Nov 1/Nov 3) Exam options: A) Nov. 8, Tuesday B) Nov. 10, Thursday C) Nov. 15, Tuesday

Interested in a Science Lab Tour? A) yes, if during the regular class time; B) No; C) yes, but only outside of the regular class time 3

The remaining lectures: 4 Ch. 7 (Retina and visual perception), Ch. 9 & 10 (color & color perception). We are here

Retinal processing that allows Relative Lightness sensitivity: Amacrine and horizontal cells “turn down” the signals from areas adjacent to bright areas. 5 See text fig. 7.5 “Lateral Inhibition”

“Receptive field” 6 Nerve cell fires rapidly See text fig The rods/cones and local cells are connected in a group: Center of group causes nerves to fire if illuminated. Surrounding group causes nerves to STOP firing if they are illuminated. Nerve cell doesn’t fire Nerve cell fires only a bit

Receptive field (again) 7 The yellow is the region receiving light. See fig Called LATERAL INHIBITION

Because of LATERAL INHIBITION, Edge detection is enhanced 8 Half illumination gives bigger signal Full illumination: Not much nerve activity.

Lateral inhibition along with relative lightness cause: Simultaneous lightness contrast 9 Craik O’Brien Illusion Contrast at the edge affects your perception of center. Are the small gray patches below identical? See fig 7.7 A) YES B) NO

Craik O’Brien Illusion Simultaneous lightness contrast 10 These are the patches without the surround.

Simultaneous lightness contrast (again) “Checker shadow illusion” 11 Which square is lighter in shade, square A or square B?

12 Slide them together and compare. A is surrounded by light squares and B is surrounded by dark squares in the previous slide. Simultaneous lightness contrast “Checker shadow illusion”

13 Hermann grid illusion: dark areas are from lateral inhibition

14 The red areas show the receptive field. Lateral inhibition is greater at 1 than at 2. The fovea has a smaller receptive field. So the lateral inhibition is the same everywhere in the white area

15 White space is larger than receptive field

16 It is blacker away from a corner where there is more inhibition.

17

18 The music A. Kitaoka

19 Does the center stripe have constant lightness? Or is the center stripe darker in the middle and at the ends? A) Constant B) Darker in middle and ends

20 The center stripe has constant lightness.

21 Clicker question A white sheet of paper continues to look white as the light level is reduced. We call this effect: A. Simultaneous lightness contrast B. Lateral inhibition C. Weber’s law D. Lightness constancy E. Edge enhancement

22 Clicker question The bands of gray look lighter on their right side because of: A.Simultaneous lightness contrast B. Lightness constancy C. Weber’s law D. Lateral inhibition E. Both A and D

Victor Vasarely, Zebras. The black/white boundaries outline the necks. The artist has made use of the tendency of the eye to find lines.

24 Picasso The regions of color don’t have edges, but appear to.

25 Lighter just before edge Darker just before edge French artist George Seurat used edge enhancement by lateral inhibition to make figures stand out sharply

26 El Greco

27 Victor Vasarely, artist. The edges of the squares seem lighter because of the dark surrounds. The white crosses are an illusion.

Interesting collective behavior 2: We expect a 3D world, lit from ABOVE: 28 Our perception of relative lightness changes based upon Location and Shape!

29 A B Example: Which is the darker patch, A or B?

30 A B Previous experience effect: Here, the eye is “fooled” into thinking the light is from above. The panel “A” has lots of light, so it must be really dark. But “B” must be lighter because it is in the “shade.”

Which creature is larger? 31 Previous experience in tunnels tells us that the creature in back is further away, and hence must be larger. A)The little one in front B)The big one in back C)They are the same size.

32 Victor Vasarely, artist “Previous experience” interprets these flat images as being from 3-dimensional boxes. The shadows tell us what is a “floor” and what is a “wall.”

33 Size constancy: Are all the vertical lines the same height? A)Look different to me B)Look the same to me

34

Interesting collective behavior 3: Sensitive to a MOVING World. Time and motion important. 35 Fatigue: prolonged stimulation (staring at a lamp) causes a weaker response and a negative afterimage. Successive lightness contrast: a gray object looks darker after looking at white. Positive afterimage: We see a flash as a bright spot after it has gone away. Over stimulated nerves keep firing.

Successive lightness contrast Negative afterimage 36 Stare at this for 30sec., then stare at the next slide.

37

38 Stare at this, stare at the next slide.

39

40

41