The Effects of Brightness Difference on Visual Perception of Characters

The visual perception of characters depends on the color contrast difference between the foreground and the background. In the human-machine interface, the black characters on a white background or white characters on a black background are the most commonly used color combinations. However, with the increase in the amount of information and the requirement of information layering, interface elements need to be presented through multiple foregrounds and backgrounds. Therefore, it is significant to ensure the overall optimization of multiple information in the human-machine interface. The study was conducted from the perspective of brightness and aimed to explore the influence of color combinations between characters and backgrounds on visual perception from the dimensions of polarity, background, and brightness difference. By analyzing the comparison time and accuracy in the visual comparison experiment, the study found that black background had shorter comparison time and better visual performance than grey and white backgrounds on the whole. Besides, visual perception of negative polarity was better than positive polarity. Furthermore, the layering of visual perception at different brightness levels was also obtained, which was beneficial to improve the efficiency of information cognition in the human-machine interface.