Gordon Legge, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Psychology

E-MAIL: [email protected]

Professor Legge's Homepage


Research Interests:

My research deals with visual perception and cognition. Currently, projects in my lab focus on the roles of vision in reading, object recognition, and spatial navigation. In all of these areas, I have a special interest in the problems encountered by people with low vision.

My lab has been widely recognized for applying the principles and methods of basic visual science to explain the difficulties encountered by people with low vision. One practical outcome of our research is the development of the MNREAD Acuity Chart, designed for use in normal and low vision.

Other areas of my research include studies of binocular vision (including stereopsis) and contrast coding.


Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

  • Xiong YZ, Liu R, Kwon M, Bittner AK, Owsley C. A unified rule for binocular contrast summation applies to normal vision and common eye diseases. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021 Oct 4;62(13):6.
  • Xiong YZ, Lei Q, Calabrèse A, Legge GE. Simulating visibility and reading performance in low vision. Front Neurosci. 2021 Jul 5;15:671121.
  • Addleman DA, Legge GE, Jiang YV. Simulated central vision loss impairs implicit location probability learning. Cortex. 2021 May;138:241-252.
  • Arditi A, Legge G, Granquist C, Gage R, Clark D. Reduced visual acuity is mirrored in low vision imagery. Br J Psychol. 2021 Aug;112(3):611-627.
  • Creem-Regehr SH, Barhorst-Cates EM, Tarampi MR, Rand KM, Legge GE. How can basic research on spatial cognition enhance the visual accessibility of architecture for people with low vision? Cogn Res Princ Implic. 2021 Jan 7;6(1):3.
  • Atilgan N, Xiong YZ, Legge GE. Reconciling print-size and display-size constraints on reading. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Dec 1;117(48):30276-30284.
  • Wu YH, Granquist C, Gage R, Crossland MD, Legge GE. Online survey of digital reading by adults with low vision. Optom Vis Sci. 2020 Apr;97(4):249-256.
  • Freedman A, Achtemeier J, Baek Y, Legge GE. Gaze behavior during navigation with reduced acuity. Exp Eye Res. 2019;183:20-28.
  • Legge GE, Granquist C, Lubet A, Gage R, Xiong YZ. Preserved tactile acuity in older pianists. Atten Percept Psychophys. 2019;81(8):2619-2625.
  • Chung STL, Legge GE, Pelli DG, Yu C. Visual factors in reading. Vision Res. 2019 Aug;161:60-62.
  • Xiong YZ, Qiao C, Legge GE. Reading with letter transpositions in central and peripheral vision. J Vis. 2019 Mar 1;19(3):17. 
  • Mansfield JS, Atilgan N, Lewis AM, Legge GE. Extending the MNREAD sentence corpus: Computer-generated sentences for measuring visual performance in reading. Vis Res. 2019;158:11-18.
  • Xiong YZ, Calabrese A, Cheong AMY, Legge GE. Reading acuity as a predictor of low-vision reading performance. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2018;59(12):4798-4803.
  • He Y, Baek S, Legge GE. Korean reading speed: Effects of print size and retinal eccentricity. Vision Res. 2018 Jul 19;150:8-14.
  • Gupta A, Mesik J, Engel SA, Smith R, Schatza M, Calabrèse A, van Kuijk FJ, Erdman AG, Legge GE.Beneficial effects of spatial remapping for reading With simulated central field loss. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2018 Feb 1;59:1105-1112.
  • He Y, Kwon M, Legge GE. Common constraints limit Korean and English character recognition in peripheral vision. J Vis. 2018 Jan 1;18(1):5.
  • Calabrèse A, To L, He Y, Berkholtz E, Rafian P, Legge GE. Comparing performance on the MNREAD iPad application with the MNREAD acuity chart. J Vis. 2018 Jan 1;18(1):8.
  • Wang H, Legge GE. Comparing the minimum spatial-frequency content for recognizing Chinese and alphabet characters. J Vis. 2018 Jan 1;18(1):1.
  • He Y, Legge GE. Linking crowding, visual span, and reading. J Vis. 2017 Sep 1;17(11):11.
  • Yu D, Legge, Wagoner G, Chung STL. Training peripheral vision to read: Boosting the speed of letter processing. Vision Res. 2017;pii: S0042-6989(17)30121-9.
  • Calabrese A, Liu T, Legge GE. Does vertical reading help people with macular degeneration: an exploratory study. PLoS One 2017;12(1):e0170743.
  • Thompson WB, Legge GE, Kersten DJ, Shakespeare RA, Lei Q. Simulating visibility under reduced acuity and contrast sensitivity. J Op Soc Am A Opt Image Sci Vis. 2017;34:583-593.
  • Legge GE, Chung STL. Low vision and plasticity: Implications for rehabilitation. Annu Rev Vis Sci 2016;14:321-343.
  • Legge GE, Grandquist C, Baek Y, Gage R. Indoor spatial updating with impaired vision. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016;57:6757-6765.
  • Calabrèse A, Cheong AM, Cheung SH, He Y, Kwon M, Mansfield JS, Subramanian A, Yu D, Legge GE. Baseline MNREAD measures for normally sighted subjects from childhood to old age. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016;57:3836-3843.
  • Calabrese A, Owlsley C, McGwin G, Legge GE. Development of a raeding accessibility index using the MNREAD acuity chart. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2016;134:398-405.
  • Legge GE. Reading digital with low vision. Visible Lang. 2016:50:102-125.
  • Legge GE, Gage R, Baek Y, Bochsler TM. Indoor spatial updating with reduced visual information. PLoS One. 2016;Mar 4;11(3):e0150708.
  • Chng ST, Legge GE. Comparing the shape of contrast sensitivity functions for normal and low vision. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016;57198-207.
  • O'Modhrain S, Giudice NA, Gardner JA, Legge GE. Designing media for visually-impaired users of refreshable touch displays: Possibilities and pitfalls. IEEE Trans Haptics. 2015;8:248-257.
  • Yu D, Jiang Y, Legge GE, He S. Locating the cortical bottleneck for slow reading in peripheral vision. J Vis. 2015;15(11):3. doi: 10:1167/15.
  • He Y, Scholz JM, Gage R, Kallie CS, Liu T, Legge GE. Comparing the visual spans for faces and letters. J Vis. 2015;15(8)7. doi: 10:1167/15..8.7.
  • Yu D, Legge GE, Wagoner G, Chung ST. Sensory factors limiting horizontal and vertical visual span for letter recognition. J Vis. 2014;14(6):3.
  • Subramanian A, Legge GE, Wagoner GH, Yu D. Learning to read vertical text in peripheral vision. Optom Vis Sci. 2014;91(9):1097-105.
  • Wang H, He X, Legge GE. Effect of pattern complexity on the visual span for Chinese and alphabet characters. J Vis. 2014;14(8):6.
  • Legge GE. Prentice medal lecture 2013: visual accessibility: a challenge for low-vision research. Optom Vis Sci. 2014;91(7):696-706.
  • Qin X, Bochsler TM, Aizpurua A, Cheong AM, Koutstaal W, Legge GE. Incidental memory of younger and older adults for objects encountered in a real world context. PLoS One. 2014;9(6):e99051.
Picture of Gordon Legge