Alan Gilchrist, Professor Ph.D
Rutgers University, Psychology Dept.
101 Warren Street, Newark, NJ 07102
Smith Hall Room 342
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Phone: (973) 353-5440 x3951 Anchoring Theory of Lightness Perception
Research Interests
I study visual perception, especially the perception of surface color, and especially
the black-white dimension. Vision is known to be based on the image projected onto the
retina, but the problem of how to assign black, white and gray values to surfaces
represented in that image remains unsolved, in human vision as in computer vision.
Because of variations in many factors such as the background of a surface and the
lighting conditions, the perception of any one specific surface color can be associated
with many patterns of local stimulation at the retina. The goal of the work is to describe
the software (not the hardware, or wetware) used by the visual system to decode the retinal
image. The primary method is psychophysics. Naive observers are exposed to displays specially
constructed so that competing theories make opposing predictions of what observers will see.
The observer reports, typically involving matches made using a color chart, are then used to
evaluate theories. In my lab we have approached this problem in two ways. In earlier work,
an inverse-optics approach was taken in which we attempted to determine the computations
necessary to recover objective properties like surface color. More recent work has focused
on the pattern of errors shown by human observers when judging surface colors. These errors
are systematic, not random, and the work is based on the assumption that the pattern of
errors is the signature of the software used to decode the retinal image. Selected Publications
Rock, I. and A. Gilchrist (1975). Induced form. American Journal of Psychology 88(3): 475-482. Rock, I. and A. Gilchrist (1975). The conditions for the perception of the covering and uncovering of a line. American Journal of Psychology 88(4): 571-582.
Gilchrist, A. L. (1977). Color constancy. The International Encyclopedia of Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology. and Psychology. B. Wolman. New York, Van Nostrand.
Gilchrist, A. L. (1977). Perceived lightness depends on perceived spatial arrangement. Science 195: 185-187.
Gilchrist, A. (1979). The perception of surface blacks and whites. Scientific American 240: 112-123.
Gilchrist, A. L. (1980). When does perceived lightness depend on perceived spatial arrangement? Perception and Psychophysics 28(6): 527-538.
Gilchrist, A., S. Delman, et al. (1983). The classification and integration of edges as critical to the perception of reflectance and illumination. Perception and Psychophysics 33(5): 425-436.
Gilchrist, A. L. and A. Jacobsen (1983). Lightness constancy through a veiling luminance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 9: 936-944.
Gilchrist, A. and A. Jacobsen (1984). Perception of lightness and illumination in a world of one reflectance. Perception 13: 5-19.
Jacobsen, A. and A. Gilchrist (1988). The ratio principle holds over a million-to-one range of illumination. Perception and Psychophysics 43: 1-6.
Jacobsen, A. and A. Gilchrist (1988). Hess and Pretori revisited: Resolution of some old contradictions. Perception and Psychophysics 43: 7-14.
Gilchrist, A. (1988). Lightness contrast and failures of constancy: a common explanation. Perception and Psychophysics 43(5): 415-424.
Gilchrist, A. L. and A. Jacobsen (1989). Qualitative relationships are decisive. Perception and Psychophysics 45(1): 92-94.
Gilchrist, A. L. (1990). Developments in the Gestalt theory of lightness perception. The Legacy of Solomon Asch: Essays in Cognition and Social Psychology. I. Rock, Erlbaum.
Bonato, F. and A. L. Gilchrist (1994). The perception of luminosity on different backgrounds and in different illuminations. Perception 23: 991-1006.
Gilchrist, A. (1994). Absolute Versus Relative Theories of Lightness Perception. Lightness, Brightness, and Transparency. A. Gilchrist. Hillsdale, Erlbaum: 1-33.
Gilchrist, A. L. (1994). Lightness, Brightness, and Transparency. Hillsdale, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cataliotti, J. and A. L. Gilchrist (1995). Local and global processes in surface lightness perception. Perception and Psychophysics 57(2): 125-135.
Gilchrist, A. L. and F. Bonato (1995). Anchoring of lightness values in center/surround displays. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 21(6): 1427-1440.
Spehar, B., A. Gilchrist, et al. (1995). The Critical Role of Relative Luminance Relations in White's Effect and Grating Induction. Vision Research 35: 2603-2614.
Gilchrist, A. (1996). The deeper lesson of Alhazen. Perception 25: 1133-1136.
Bonato, F. and A. Gilchrist (1999). Perceived area and the luminosity threshold. Perception and Psychophysics 61(5): 786-797.
Gilchrist, A. (1999). Lightness Perception. MIT Enclyclopedia of Cognitive Science. R. W. F. Keil. Cambridge, MIT press: pp 471-472.
Gilchrist, A., C. Kossyfidis, et al. (1999). An anchoring theory of lightness perception. Psychological Review 106(4): 795-834.
Gilchrist, A. L. (1999). Achromatic color and the anchoring problem. La Percezione Visiva. A. O. N. S. F. Purghé. Torino, UTET Universitá: 496-517.
Li, X. and A. Gilchrist (1999). Relative area and relative luminance combine to anchor surface lightness values. Perception and Psychophysics 61(5): 771-785.
Gilchrist, A. and V. Annan (2002). Articulation effects in lightness: Historical background and theoretical implications. Perception 31: 141-150.
Gilchrist, A. (2003). The importance of errors in perception. Colour Perception: Mind and the Physical World. R. M. D. Heyer. Oxford, Oxford University Press.: 437-452.
Gilchrist, A. and E. Economou (2003). Dualistic versus monistic accounts of lightness perception. Levels of Perception. Colour Perception: Mind and the Physical World. L. H. a. M. Jenkin. New York, Springer: 11-22.
Gilchrist, A. (2003). Looking backward: Why we see what we do: an empirical theory of vision. Nature Neuroscience 6:550.
Annan V. & A. Gilchrist (2004) Lightness Depends on Immediately Prior Experience, Perception & Psychophysics 66(6): 943-952.
Gilchrist, A.L. (2005). Lightness Perception: Seeing One Color through Another. Current Biology 15(9): R330-R332.
Gilchrist A.L. Seeing Black & White. (in press) Oxford University Press.
Fax: (973) 353-1171
E-mail: alan@psychology.rutgers.edu