Analysis of factors affecting the contrast effect for total appearance

Abstract

In our everyday lives, we are surrounded by many material objects with various appearances. We judge the total appearance (e.g., glossiness, transparency, and roughness) of objects and their subjective values. In the field of vision science, various low-level visual contrast effects have been studied to determine criteria for the different appearance of target pairs with different colour, luminance, texture, and shape. However, investigations of the high-level contrast effect for total appearance are rare. In this study, we experimentally investigate the generation of the contrast effect for total appearance and analyse factors affecting it using subjective experiments. Two total appearance attributes, that is, roughness and glossiness, were analysed. In our approach, it was assumed that two high-level contrast effects are generated by the combination of low-level contrast effects such as luminance, image contrast, and sharpness. Based on multiple regression analyses of the psychophysical experiments, the contrast effect of the sharpness influences the roughness (by 50% to 70%). Furthermore, the results indicate that the glossiness contrast effect is affected by approximately 80% of the contrast effects of luminance and image-contrast.