Abstract
Metelli has proposed a model of the intensity relationships in perceptual transparency based on Talbot’s law of color fusion. Four constraints follow from the application of Talbot’s law. Experiments 1 and 2 show that violations of constraints i and ii adversely affect the perception of transparency, while violations of constraints iii and iv do not. Many common occurrences of transparency are in terms of subtractive, rather than additive, color mixture. The constraints derived from the Metelli model are also shown to hold for subtractive color mixture with a filter. An assumption of the Metelli model is that the degree of perceived transparency varies linearly with reflectance. Experiment 3 indicates that the degree of perceived transparency with “partim transparency” varied linearly, not with reflectance, but with lightness, a nonlinear function of reflectance. Experiment 4 indicates that judgments of the degree of transparency with “complete transparency” are based on stimulus relations that differ from those that determine whether the perception of transparency occurs. The results are discussed in terms of how the pattern of intensities relates to other stimulus information, such as figural configuration, in producing the perception of transparency.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Beck, J. (1972).Surface color perception. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Beck, J. (1975). Surface color.Scientific American,232(2), 62–75.
Brill, M. (1976).Physical foundations of the perception of achromatic translucency. (Research Laboratory for Electronics Progress Reports, PR No. 117, pp. 315–320). Cambridge: M.I.T.
Metelli, F. (1974a). Achromatic color conditions in the perception of transparency. In R. B. MacLeod & H. L. Pick (Eds.),Perception: Essays in honor of J. J. Gibson (pp. 95–116). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Metelli, F. (1974b). The perception of transparency.Scientific American,230(4), 90–98.
Metelli, F. (1975). Shadows without penumbra. In S. Ertel, L. Kemmler, & L. Stadler (Eds.),Gestalttheorie in der modernen Psychologie (pp. 200–209). Darmstadt: Dietrich Steinkopff.
Metzger, W. (1955). Uber Durchsichtigkeitserscheinungen.Rivista di Psicologia, Fascicolo Giubilare, 187–189.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by NSF Grant MCS-79-23422 to the Computer Vision Laboratory, University of Maryland, and by AFOSR Contract F49620-83-C-0093 to the Psychology and Computer and Information Sciences Departments, University of Oregon.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Beck, J., Prazdny, K. & Ivry, R. The perception of transparency with achromatic colors. Perception & Psychophysics 35, 407–422 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203917
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203917