ABSTRACT
Abstract Much contemporary neurophysiological and information processing research distinguishes between identity processing ('what') and location processing ('where'). The neurophysiological evidence strongly suggests that the variable luminance should differentially affect identity processing and location processing. An experiment is reported, in which a partial-report bar-probe paradigm was used to investigate the influence of luminance on localization and identification performance. The experiment involved two luminance conditions, an intermediate and a rather low level of luminance. Two tasks were used: a digit naming task especially designed to measure localization performance, and a letter naming task measuring localization-plus-identification performance. The results are consistent with the neurophysiological suggestions. Level of luminance affected identity processing. In contrast, luminance level had no effect at all on localization performance.
