Gordon Legge
· ProfessorVerifiedUniversity of Minnesota · Psychology
Active 1976–2026
About
Gordon Legge is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts. He specializes in visual perception with a cognitive-neuroscience perspective, focusing on the role of vision in real-world activities such as reading, object recognition, and wayfinding. His research interests include binocular vision, visual contrast coding, and the application of vision research to understand the difficulties faced by individuals with impaired vision in everyday activities. A significant contribution of his work is the development of the MNREAD Acuity Chart, a tool for testing normal and impaired vision. Legge's educational background includes a Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard University, and his scholarly work encompasses numerous publications on visual perception, reading, and low vision. He has held various academic and research leadership roles, including serving on editorial boards, directing research centers, and participating in national advisory councils. His research has been funded by multiple NIH grants, and he has received several awards recognizing his contributions to vision science and optometry.
Research topics
- Psychology
- Audiology
- Medicine
- Psychiatry
- Gerontology
Selected publications
2026-03-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Central vision is important for daily activities requiring high acuity such as reading. Loss of central vision can result from advanced forms of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and several other retinal disorders. AMD is the major cause of vision impairment in the United States. Central-vision loss means reliance on the remaining peripheral vision and a focus on the compensatory abilities of peripheral vision. This chapter describes the implications of central-field loss for performing many visual functions, the need for magnification, and the impact on daily life. The chapter also discusses a remarkable adaptation to loss of central vision: the adoption of a location in peripheral vision used for attending to objects and for controlling eye movements.
2026-03-02
book1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Low vision is any form of vision impairment, not correctable by glasses or contacts, resulting from eye diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, or cataract. Low vision is a broad spectrum lying between total blindness and normal vision. The number of people with low vision is rising rapidly as our population ages, with hundreds of millions worldwide. This book describes the experience of living with low vision and the corresponding everyday challenges and solutions. Part I of the book explains what low vision is and why it is misunderstood. Separate chapters explain how acuity, contrast sensitivity, and visual fields are measured and how the corresponding deficits affect what people with low vision can see. Part II describes how low vision affects everyday life, especially reading and mobility. Almost everyone with low vision has reading difficulty. Mobility can also be daunting: How do people with low vision get around on foot or by car? Part III addresses the hope of sight recovery from two perspectives: There have been remarkable recent advances in addressing several forms of childhood low vision. And, there are the dreams and realities of vision restoration for people living with low vision. The book concludes with an epilogue looking ahead at future research on low vision.
2026-03-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Low vision is often described in terms of reduced acuity, reduced contrast sensitivity, and visual-field loss. Traditionally, visual acuity has been the primary measure of vision status, and the one best known to most people. This chapter describes how visual acuity is defined and measured. More important for everyday life, what do numerical values of acuity tell us about what a person can see or not see? The following chapters will deal with reduced contrast sensitivity and visual-field loss in low vision. Although the three aspects of vision impairment are described in separate chapters, most people with reduced acuity have reduced contrast sensitivity, and many also have visual-field loss.
Assessment of Newly Designed Fonts for Visual Accessibility
OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · 2026-03-21
otherOpen access2026-03-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Contrast refers to a visual difference between an object and its background. A cup on the table, a cat on the floor, or an apple in the tree are recognizable because they contrast in brightness or color with the background. Contrast sensitivity refers to the visual ability to see faint contrasts. Deficits in contrast sensitivity often pose major problems for people with low vision. This chapter defines contrast sensitivity and then discusses how it is measured and examines the impact of reduced contrast sensitivity on everyday life. Color perception has been harder to evaluate in low vision because of the diversity of conditions. Yet, it is important to understand how color cues can be helpful to people with impaired vision.
2026-03-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract The visual field refers to the wide panorama of space in which objects can be seen. While low vision is often characterized by a loss of acuity and sometimes a loss of contrast sensitivity, the everyday challenges of many people with visual impairments come about because of visual-field loss. This chapter describes important properties of the normal visual field, how visual fields are measured, and the impact of peripheral-field loss on low vision. This chapter also discusses vision impairment due to loss of vision in one eye or in one half of the visual field. The next chapter focuses on the loss of central vision.
2026-03-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Mobility is a major challenge for people with low vision. Mobility refers to getting around on foot, by car, or by public transportation. It includes mobility within the home, the neighborhood, the community, and the world. Three major topics in mobility are obstacle avoidance, environmental awareness, and wayfinding. This chapter takes several perspectives on pedestrian mobility with low vision. What visual and nonvisual cues are used by people with low vision in getting around? What is the influence of variations in lighting? How can architects and designers enhance the visual accessibility of buildings for people with low vision? The next chapter will discuss driving with low vision.
2026-03-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Reading difficulty is the primary reason why people seek help from low-vision clinics. This chapter describes how visual reading is measured, and how the three major dimensions of low vision cause reading problems. Reduced acuity is related to print size and the need for magnifying text. Several methods are described for print magnification. Reduced contrast sensitivity is related to the need for high-contrast text and good lighting. Visual-field loss, especially central-field loss, affects the number of text characters visible at each glance, a number termed the visual span. Reduction of the visual span is a factor limiting reading ability in low vision. The chapter also discusses fonts for low vision and the need for adequate display size.
2026-03-18
book-section1st authorCorrespondingAbstract This appendix includes a brief overview of the structures of the eye and the neural connections of the eyes to the visual cortex in the brain.
2026-03-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract What is low vision? Why is it misunderstood by people with normal healthy vision? Why is it difficult for people with low vision to explain what they see or don’t see? How do we describe and measure the wide spectrum of low-vision conditions? In short, what’s it like to live with low vision? In this book, the author addresses these questions from a scientific perspective and also from his own experience with low vision. In this Introduction, the author describes his personal journey with low vision, the topics to be covered in the book, and the broad audience he hopes to reach.
Recent grants
Designing Visually Accessible Spaces
NIH · $5.4M · 2007–2021
Psychophysics of Reading - Normal and Low Vision
NIH · $6.5M · 1979–2020
NIH · $7.5M · 2014
NIH · $2.5M · 2005
NIH · $1.9M · 1996
Frequent coauthors
- 48 shared
J. Stephen Mansfield
SUNY Plattsburgh
- 39 shared
Rachel Gage
University of Minnesota
- 37 shared
Christopher S. Kallie
- 32 shared
Aurélie Calabrèse
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- 32 shared
Daniel Kersten
University of Minnesota
- 31 shared
Susana T. L. Chung
- 29 shared
Ying-Zi Xiong
Johns Hopkins University
- 29 shared
Yingchen He
North Carolina State University
Awards & honors
- Distinguished Service Award, American Optometric Association…
- Glenn A. Fry Award, American Academy of Optometry (1990)
- McKnight Distinguished University Professorship, University…
- Pisart Vision Award, The Lighthouse Inc. (1994)
- MERIT Award, National Institutes of Health - National Eye In…
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