Enhancing Perceptibility of Barely Perceptible Targets
Abstract
We have discovered a class of powerful procedures for improving perception of targets obscured in dim, briefly-flashed, or noisy images. These procedures require no precise knowledge of where the targets appear in the image nor are they dependent on what the targets look like. They involve adding particular kinds of spatial and temporal contexts to the obscured image. Perception then improves strikingly. During the contract year, we found that perceptual accuracy could be improved by as much as 20% to 100% when: (1) Individual picture elements in a digitized noisy photograph (of a face, vehicle, etc.) were flickered; (2) Additional noise was added to the already noisy photograph and the individual picture elements were flickered; (3) Fragmented images blocked in the middle by a horizontal black bar were flickered or moved; (4) Observers trying to pick out the brightest of a set of dots saw the dots rotating within a sphere rather than remaining stationary; (5) Auxiliary lines were combined with a small target line segment to yield perception of a three- dimensional object; (6) These auxiliary lines surrounded but did not combine with or touch the target line; and (7) Auxiliary lines alternately created either a distinct figure or background within which the target appeared. This last may be our most striking finding so far. It involves adding a simple line drawing to an image; it more than doubles the d' for discriminating the orientation and detecting the presence of a small diagonal target line within that image.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 17, 1981
- Accession Number
- ADA105403
Entities
People
- Naomi Weisstein
Organizations
- University at Buffalo