Gordon Ernest Legge (born January 22, 1948) is currently the Distinguished McKnight University Professor and former chair of the Department of

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. Legge is the director o
the Minnesota Laboratory for Low-Vision Research
Legge received a bachelor's degree in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

in 1971, and a master's degree in

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1972. In 1976, Legge obtained his Ph.D. in

Experimental Psychology Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to study a great many topics, in ...

from

under the direction of R.J.W. Mansfield. Legge did his postdoctoral training with Fergus Campbell at the Physiological Laboratory,

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. In 1977, Legge joined the faculty of th
University of Minnesota
Legge studies the roles of

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

in reading,

object recognition Object recognition – technology in the field of computer vision for finding and identifying objects in an image or video sequence. Humans recognize a multitude of objects in images with little effort, despite the fact that the image of the ...

, and

spatial navigation In computing, spatial navigation is the ability to navigate between focusable elements, such as hyperlinks and form controls, within a structured document or user interface according to the spatial location. This method is widely used in applicatio ...

. Legge's major research interest is in reading with normal vision and

low vision Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

(visual impairment). Legge is the author of a series of papers known as the "

Psychophysics Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, m ...

of Reading" series, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals between 1985 and 2002. These have been summarized and reviewed in the book "Psychophysics of reading in normal and low vision", which also contains a CDROM with the original articles. Together with J. Stephen Mansfield, Legge also developed the MNREAD testbr>
which has become an internationally accepted standard test for measurement of reading acuity and reading speed in low vision clinics and clinical research. Legge also sat on the Committee on Currency Features Usable by the Visually Impaired, which reviewed the design of U.S. currency bills (banknotes) in 199

References

*Legge, G.E. (2007), Psychophysics of reading in normal and low vision, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. *Mansfield J., Ahn, S., Legge, G.E., & Luebker, A. (1993). A new reading-acuity chart for normal and low vision. Ophthalmic and Visual Optics/Noninvasive Assessment of the Visual System Technical Digest, 3, 232–235. *http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/index.php *http://www.psych.umn.edu/psychology *http://vision.psych.umn.edu/groups/gellab *http://vision.psych.umn.edu/users/legge/index.html Living people University of Minnesota faculty 1948 births Harvard University alumni 21st-century American psychologists MIT Department of Physics alumni 20th-century American psychologists {{US-psychologist-stub