Luminance Thresholds For The Resolution Of Visual Detail During Dark Adaption
This citation is provided as a resource for researchers, but Contrails cannot provide a full-text download
U.S. government employees, Military/Department of Defense employees, and U.S. government contractors and sub-contractors may be eligible to register with the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), where this report and others like it may be available
Report Number: WADC TR 52-12
Author(s): Brown, J. L., Graham, C. H., Leibowitz, H. W., Ranken, H. B.
Corporate Author(s): Columbia Univ New York
Date of Publication: 1952-01
Pages: 19
DoD Task:
Identifier: ADA075993
Abstract:
Luminance thresholds for the visual resolution of various widths of alternating light and dark lines were determined at various times during dark adaptation. The finest gratings, representing high degrees of visual acuity, show only a single cone curve that drops from a high luminance threshold during the first moments of dark adaptation to a final steady level that is reached after about 7 to 10 minutes in the dark. Coarse gratings produce a duplex curve that shows an initial cone portion and a delayed rod portion. Visual acuity is a parameter that sets the position of a given curve on the log threshold axis. The higher the degree of resolution required, the higher the dark adaptation threshold. At a constant grating luminance, visual acuity rises rapidly to a maximum during dark adaptation; the higher the luminance, the earlier and more rapid the rise and the higher the maximum. Visual acuity increases at all dark adaptation times with increase in luminance. Implications of these findings for instrument lighting are discussed.
Author(s): Brown, J. L., Graham, C. H., Leibowitz, H. W., Ranken, H. B.
Corporate Author(s): Columbia Univ New York
Date of Publication: 1952-01
Pages: 19
DoD Task:
Identifier: ADA075993
Abstract:
Luminance thresholds for the visual resolution of various widths of alternating light and dark lines were determined at various times during dark adaptation. The finest gratings, representing high degrees of visual acuity, show only a single cone curve that drops from a high luminance threshold during the first moments of dark adaptation to a final steady level that is reached after about 7 to 10 minutes in the dark. Coarse gratings produce a duplex curve that shows an initial cone portion and a delayed rod portion. Visual acuity is a parameter that sets the position of a given curve on the log threshold axis. The higher the degree of resolution required, the higher the dark adaptation threshold. At a constant grating luminance, visual acuity rises rapidly to a maximum during dark adaptation; the higher the luminance, the earlier and more rapid the rise and the higher the maximum. Visual acuity increases at all dark adaptation times with increase in luminance. Implications of these findings for instrument lighting are discussed.