The mechanism of brightness enhancement

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Abstract

The paradoxical increase in brightness of a subfusional intermittent light, called brightness enhancement, requires a minimum photopic level of retinal illumination for its initiation. In this study, we have utilized a variable intensity monochromatic bipartite field, half of which was intermittent in order to determine the threshold for brightness enhancement across the visual spectrum. The action spectrum thus obtained in two subjects were identical to independently determined photopic luminosity curves obtained in the same subjects. A neuromechanism accounting for these results is suggested.

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  • Research partially supported by grant R01-EYO1139 from the National Eye Institute.

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