The inability of the human visual system to adapt quickly to a wide range of environmental luminances poses a stiff challenge to the design of airborne displays. Using a repeated measures factorial design, the present study investigated the independent and interactive effects of adaptation luminance, contrast ratio, and display background luminance on this "eye adaptation mismatch" phenomenon. Adaptation luminances ranged from 1 fL to 10,000 fL, with legibility defined as the time required by observers to recognize CRT symbols. Overall, response time increased systematically with increases in adaptation luminance, and decreased with increases in contrast ratio and display background luminance. Additional analyses revealed that contrast ratio and display luminance influence response time multiplicatively, such that quests to maintain large contrast ratios under bright ambient light at the expense of lowered display luminance could exaggerate the mismatch between adaptation luminance and display luminance and thus degrade symbol legibility.

Date Published: 13 May 1985
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 0526, Advances in Display Technology V, (13 May 1985); doi: 10.1117/12.946372

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0526:
Advances in Display Technology V
Elliott Schlam, Editor(s)