Biological design features that retard visual detection and recognition
Abstract
This proposal focuses on the design features of animal concealment patterns that have proved effective in avoiding detection or retarding recognition by animal predators with diverse and sophisticated visual systems. Emphasis will be on determining the detailed de"signs of edges of animals such as cuttlefish (marine molluscs of the Class Cephalopoda), which have refined bodypatterns that enabl""e them to conceal themselves in a wide array of natural backgrounds such as seagrass beds, kelp forests and coral reefs that have gr""eat diversity of light, structure and scale. Both static and motion concealment will be studied with a variety of techniques, includ"ing the use of a state-of-the-art Dual-Purkinje Image infrared Eye Tracking system. Six tasks are proposed: 1) Quantify edge designs used by cuttlefish on different backgrounds; 2) Quantify edge-design effectiveness using a visual capture task; 3) Quantify dynamic patterning performance on moving objects using a human discriminability index; 4) Record and analyze human gaze behavior while subjects view complex natural scenes with mixtures of backgroundand object motion; 5) Determine what timescales of motion cephalopods imitate to achieve motion concealment; 6) Develop abstract edge and overall pattern designs in studio art classes and assess them qualitatively (with art students and faculty) and quantitatively (with Eye Tracker and university science students). The results will" be quantified statistically by a variety of metrics, and the edge and body pattern designs will be evaluated when possible in the c"ontext ofhuman visual perception.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 05, 2017
- Source ID
- N000141712480
Entities
People
- Roger T. Hanlon
Organizations
- Marine Biological Laboratory
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy