A display system with local brightening function, the system including a display unit to display an image to a user; a sensor to detect an event, including an interaction with the display system by the user or an ambient lighting condition; and a control unit to determine a specified region of the display unit corresponding to a targeted area of the event. The control unit can change a spatial luminance of the display system based on the event, where the display system switches from a first operation mode to a second operation mode when the event is detected and, in the second operation mode, a luminance of the specified region relative to other regions of the display unit is different than a luminance of the specified region relative to the one or more other regions in the first operation mode.