Quantification of Interference and Detectability Properties of Visual Stimuli for Optimal Display Design.

Abstract

Masking provides information about spatial-temporal tuning of detectors. The detectability of a test sine-wave grating was measured in the presence of a mask of one or more sine-wave gratings. Patterns varied in spatial frequency, orientation and velocity. Conclusions of 4 studies are: 1) Orientation and spatial frequency tuning are not separable: changing relative mask-test spatial frequency changes orientation tuning. 2) Patterns moving in opposite directions are not detected independently; right and left moving patterns mask each other and are detected by opponent-motion mechanisms sensitive to opposite velocities. At threshold, opposite directions may be detected independently. 3) Masking of a wide range of tests by a vertical mask of 4cpd, moving left or right at 4 hz, showed: a) asymmetry wherein low spatial and temporal tests were strongly masked and high spatial frequencies were facilitated; b) non-separability of the three tuning variable of spatial and temporal frequency and orientation, ruling out simple explanation. 4) A mask consisting of a small group of spectral components (simulating bandlimited 2D noise) produced strong masking by obscuring beats that would otherwise occur (and aid detection) when a single sine-wave test grating is added to a single sine-wave mask. Keywords: Human vision, Psychophysics, and Masking.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 31, 1986
Accession Number
ADA167138

Entities

People

  • Richard E. Kronauer

Organizations

  • Harvard University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Bandwidth
  • Classification
  • Contracts
  • Detection
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Bands
  • Identification
  • Nervous System
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Perception
  • Recognition
  • Signal Processing
  • Sine Waves
  • Three Dimensional
  • Two Dimensional
  • Visual Perception

Readers

  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.