Discrimination of orientation-defined texture edges

AbstractPreattentive texture segregation was examined using textures composed of randomly placed, oriented line segments. A difference in texture element orientation produced an illusory, or orientation-defined, texture edge. Subjects discriminated between two textures, one with a straight texture edge and one with a “wavy” texture edge. Across conditions the orientation of the texture elements and the orientation of the texture edge varied. Although the orientation difference across the texture edge (the “texture gradient”) is an important determinant of texture segregation performance, it is not the only one. Evidence from several experiments suggests that configural effects are also important. That is, orientation-defined texture edges are strongest when the texture elements (on one side of the edge) are parallel to the edge. This result is not consistent with a number of texture segregation models including feature- and filter-based models. One possible explanation is that the second-order channel used to detect a texture edge of a particular orientation gives greater weight to first-order input channels of that same orientation

The what and why of perceptual asymmetries in the visual domain

Perceptual asymmetry is one of the most important characteristics of our visual functioning. We carefully reviewed the scientific literature in order to examine such asymmetries, separating them into two major categories: within-visual field asymmetries and between-visual field asymmetries. We explain these asymmetries in terms of perceptual aspects or tasks, the what of the asymmetries; and in terms of underlying mechanisms, the why of the asymmetries. Tthe within-visual field asymmetries are fundamental to orientation, motion direction, and spatial frequency processing. between-visual field asymmetries have been reported for a wide range of perceptual phenomena. foveal dominance over the periphery, in particular, has been prominent for visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and colour discrimination. Tthis also holds true for object or face recognition and reading performance. upper-lower visual field asymmetries in favour of the lower have been demonstrated for temporal and contrast sensitivities, visual acuity, spatial resolution, orientation, hue and motion processing. Iin contrast, the upper field advantages have been seen in visual search, apparent size, and object recognition tasks. left-right visual field asymmetries include the left field dominance in spatial (e.g., orientation) processing and the right field dominance in non-spatial (e.g., temporal) processing. left field is also better at low spatial frequency or global and coordinate spatial processing, whereas the right field is better at high spatial frequency or local and categorical spatial processing. All these asymmetries have inborn neural/physiological origins, the primary why, but can be also susceptible to visual experience, the critical why (promotes or blocks the asymmetries by altering neural functions)

Orientation masking and cross-orientation suppression (XOS):implications for estimates of channel bandwidth

Most contemporary models of spatial vision include a cross-oriented route to suppression (masking from a broadly tuned inhibitory pool), which is most potent at low spatial and high temporal frequencies (T. S. Meese & D. J. Holmes, 2007). The influence of this pathway can elevate orientation-masking functions without exciting the target mechanism, and because early psychophysical estimates of filter bandwidth did not accommodate this, it is likely that they have been overestimated for this corner of stimulus space. Here we show that a transient 40% contrast mask causes substantial binocular threshold elevation for a transient vertical target, and this declines from a mask orientation of 0° to about 40° (indicating tuning), and then more gently to 90°, where it remains at a factor of ∼4. We also confirm that cross-orientation masking is diminished or abolished at high spatial frequencies and for sustained temporal modulation. We fitted a simple model of pedestal masking and cross-orientation suppression (XOS) to our data and those of G. C. Phillips and H. R. Wilson (1984) and found the dependency of orientation bandwidth on spatial frequency to be much less than previously supposed. An extension of our linear spatial pooling model of contrast gain control and dilution masking (T. S. Meese & R. J. Summers, 2007) is also shown to be consistent with our results using filter bandwidths of ±20°. Both models include tightly and broadly tuned components of divisive suppression. More generally, because XOS and/or dilution masking can affect the shape of orientation-masking curves, we caution that variations in bandwidth estimates might reflect variations in processes that have nothing to do with filter bandwidth

Avaliação do efeito oblíquo na visão central

O objetivo fundamental do trabalho foi avaliar o efeito oblíquo na visão central utilizando franjas de interferência produzidas por um interferómetro desenvolvido e implementado por Santos, 2012. A partir das franjas de interferência produzidas e que são projetadas no olho de um indivíduo, com orientação e contraste variáveis foram medidas e determinadas as Funções Sensibilidade ao Contraste Neuronais médias de oito indivíduos. As orientações a estudar foram a 180º, 45º, 90º e 135º, e para cada uma destas orientações foram estudadas frequências espaciais de 2, 4, 6, 12, 18 e 24 cpg. O método psicofísico utilizado para a recolha de dados nas experiências realizadas foi o “stair-case” que permite estimar, com base em respostas do tipo SIM/NÃO, os limiares de sensibilidade ao contraste de cada individuo. A partir dos resultados obtidos foram construídas curvas representativas da Função sensibilidade ao contraste neuronal média individual. Posteriormente foram feitos testes estatísticos que mostraram a existência de diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre as diversas frequências espacial mas não entre as quatro orientações estudadas. No entanto, foi verificado significado estatístico quando se consideram as interações frequências vs orientações. Foram ainda realizados outros testes estatísticos para mostrar a variação da sensibilidade ao contraste para as frequências médias e altas. Estes resultados mostram ter significado estatístico quando são consideradas combinações entre as orientações horizontais, verticais e oblíquas. Desta forma, tornou-se evidente a existência do efeito oblíquo na visão central do ser humano que também se mostrou ser mais acentuado com o aumento da frequência espacial. Os objetivos esperados foram plenamente atingidos

The Development of Visual Motion Processing in Human Infants

The experiments of this thesis have used apparent motion in random-dot patterns to explore the development of motion processing in infants. Most of the experiments involved discrimination of a segregated pattern, in which different regions moved in different ways (eg opposite directions), from a uniform pattern containing just one kind of motion. Maximum displacement limits (dmax) for discrimination of coherent from incoherent motion, and for discrimination of opposite directions of coherent motion, increased between 8 and 15 weeks. The higher threshold of adults indicated that this increase continues beyond 15 weeks. The effect of changing the interval between displacements indicated two processes underlying the increase in direction discrimination dmax: a maturation of the temporal properties of motion detectors (eg improving sensitivity to high temporal frequencies), which is largely complete by about 12 weeks; and a more prolonged development of their spatial properties which dominates the change in dmax after 12 weeks, and may also be involved before this. Measurements of coherence thresholds for direction discrimination showed that, in addition to the rise in dmax with age, there is a substantial improvement in motion sensitivity at displacements below dmax. Hence a uniform increase in sensitivity across all displacements is likely to be an important factor behind the development of dmax. However there may be additional specific improvements in sensitivity to large displacements, perhaps reflecting the emergence of low spatial frequency channels. A series of habituation and preferential looking experiments failed to find evidence for direction discrimination before 6 weeks, though positive evidence was obtained at 6-8 weeks. The results suggest that directionality emerges at about 7 weeks of age. Interestingly, despite their success at discriminating direction in a segregated stimulus, 6-8-week-olds were insensitive to the absolute direction of uniform motion. This suggests that they have not yet learnt to combine measurements of retinal image motion with information about eye movements

The visual processing of text

The results of an investigation into the nature of the visual information obtained from pages of text and used in the visual processing of text during reading are reported. An initial investigation into the visual processing of text by applying a computational model of early vision (MIRAGE: Watt & Morgan, 1985; Watt, 1988) to pages of text (Computational Analysis 1) is shown to extract a range of features from a text image in the representation it delivers, which are organised across a range of spatial scales similar to those spanning human vision. The features the model extracts are capable of supporting a structured set of text processing tasks of the type required in reading. From the findings of this analysis, a series of psychophysical and computational studies are reported which exan-dne whether the type of information used in the human visual processing of text can be described by this modelled representation of information in text images. Using a novel technique to measure the 'visibility' of the information in text images, a second stage of investigation (Experiments 1-3) shows that information used to perform different text processing tasks of the type performed in reading is contained at different spatial scales of visual analysis. A second computational analysis of the information in text demonstrates how the spatial scale dependency of these text processing tasks can be accounted for by the model of early vision. In a third stage, two further experiments (Experiments 4-5) show how the pattern of text processing performance is determined by typographical parameters, and a third computational analysis of text demonstrates how changes in the pattern of text processing performance can be modelled by changes in the pattern of information represented by the model of vision. A fourth stage (Experiments 6-7 and Computational Analysis 4) examines the time-course of the visual processing of text. The experiments show how the duration required to reach a level of visual text processing performance varies as a function of typographical parameters, and comparison of these data with the model shows that this is consistent with a time-course of visual analysis based on a coarse-to-fine spatial scale of visual processing. A final experiment (Experiment 8) examines how reading performance varies with typographical parameters. It is shown how the pattern of reading performance and the pattern of visual text processing performance are related, and how the model of early vision might describe the visual processing of text in reading. The implications of these findings for theories of reading and theories of vision are finally discussed

The context dependence of network response properties in the primary visual cortex of the primate and cat

In the mammalian visual system, stimulus context was investigated with respect to the ways it influenced neuronal mean response magnitude (the average number of spikes fired per second), response temporal structure (the timing of spikes with respect to one another), and the extent to which distributed neurones fired spikes synchronous due to synaptic interaction between them. Neurones were presented with bipartite grating stimuli, in which the spatio-temporal relationship between the grating activating the excitatory receptive field and that presented to the surrounding visual space could be varied systematically. Simultaneous extracellular recordings were made of the responses of up to four single neurones separated by 750-1000µm, in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus in the cat, or the primary visual cortex (V1) of non-human primates or cats. Changing context systematically influenced the activity of groups of cells. The responses of 83% of primate V1 cells to discontinuous stimuli, in which the centre/surround orientation difference was greater than 45°, contained stronger oscillations at frequencies below 80Hz, than responses to continuous stimuli. Many cat and primate V1 neurones exhibited elevated response magnitudes to such stimuli. In primate V1, the strength of a cell's oscillatory discharge was dependent on stimulus configuration rather than response magnitude. In the LGN and V1, cell pairs with different orientation preferences fired synchronised responses when stimulated by specific discontinuous grating configurations. Stimulus specific synchronised LGN input, and reciprocal excitatory and inhibitory cortico-cortical connections could generate these properties of cells, and the network in which they exist. A model is proposed to account for the function significance of contour discontinuities in generating coherent neural representations of objects in the visual world. It involves response synchronisation in horizontal, feedforward and feedback interactions, within and between the LGN, V1, V2 and V4

Nuevas evidencias sobre la anisotropía del espacio visual y la influencia del entorno en el rendimiento visual

Desde hace años se han realizado múltiples investigaciones que tratan sobre la fiabilidad de la percepción de las distancias en profundidad y la influencia del entorno. En ocasiones, las pistas presentes en el espacio visual entran en conflicto y/o su interpretación conduce a sesgos y errores, produciendo efectos ilusorios al no corresponder las medidas físicas con las percibidas. El objetivo global de esta tesis doctoral ha sido poner de manifiesto nuevas evidencias de la anisotropía del espacio visual y de la influencia del entorno en relación al juicio de distancias entre objetos. Para ello, se han diseñado y ejecutado tres grupos de experimentos cuyos objetivos parciales fueron: Analizar el rol de las disparidades verticales en tareas de juicio de distancias relativas entre objetos situados en diferentes planos de profundidad, en función de la orientación del estímulo. Determinar la influencia del fondo y de la orientación del estímulo en tareas de juicio de distancias relativas entre objetos, situados en un mismo plano frontoparalelo o en diferentes planos de profundidad. Verificar la naturaleza neural de la anisotropía del espacio visual desde un enfoque psicofísico no invasivo mediante el uso de SIRDS. Los resultados obtenidos en esta tesis contribuyen a la comprensión sobre la integración de claves en Visión Binocular y los sesgos visuales perceptivos en la percepción de distancias.Recent decades have witnessed multiple studies investigating the accuracy of our visual system in depth perception, as well as the influence of environmental factors during depth judgment tasks. It is not uncommon for Virtual Space cues to offer contradictory or conflicting information, thus leading to bias and error, which in turn originate illusory effects resulting from discrepancies between real and perceived dimensions. Our research in the integration of cues in Binocular Vision aimed at determining the influence of background characteristics (curved, flat, etc) on the perception of visual stimuli presented over it. Therefore, three different experimental settings were designed and conducted, with partial objectives defined as follows: To evaluate the influence of vertical disparities in depth judgment tasks when stimuli were located at different depth planes and presented different orientations. To determine the influence of background configuration and stimulus orientation on depth judgment tasks, both with stimuli at the same frontoparallel plane or at different depth planes. To evidence the neural origin of the Visual Space anisotropy from a non invasive psychophysical approach with the use of SIRDS. The findings of the present PhD thesis contribute to our understanding of the integration of cues in Binocular Vision, as well as of the nature of visual bias in depth perception

Stereoskopische Korrespondenzbestimmung mit impliziter Detektion von Okklusionen

Der Einsatz binokularer Sehsysteme eröffnet sowohl in der Natur als auch in der Technik die Möglichkeit zum räumlichen Sehen.Das Grundprinzip bildet hierbei eine passive Triangulation, deren Ausgangspunkte die korrespondierenden Positionen darstellen, auf die ein Raumpunkt in die Stereobilder projiziert wird. Das zentrale Problem besteht bei dieser Technik darin, die korrespondierenden Bildpunkte eindeutig einander zuzuordnen. Dieses sogenannte Korrespondenzproblem ist einerseits aufgrund mehrerer ähnlicher Strukturen in der betrachteten Szene oft stark mehrdeutig und besitzt andererseits nicht immer eine Lösung, da Bereiche in der Szeneauftreten können, die nur aus einer der beiden Perspektiven zusehen sind. Weiterhin wird eine eindeutige Zuordnung korrespondierender Bildbereiche durch interokuläre Differenzen wie perspektivische Verzerrungen, Beleuchtungsunterschiede und Rauschprozesse zusätzlich erschwert. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die einzelnen Komponenten eines Gesamtsystems vorgestellt, die zur stereoskopischen Rekonstruktion der räumlichen Struktur einer Szene erforderlich sind. Den Schwerpunkt der Arbeit bildet ein Selbstorganisationsprozeß, der in Verbindung mit weiteren Verfahrensschritten eine eindeutige Zuordnung korrespondierender Bildpunkte erlaubt. Darüber hinaus werden hierbei einseitig sichtbare Bildbereiche, die eine wesentliche Fehlerursache in der Stereoskopie darstellen, detektiert und vom Zuordnungsprozeß ausgeschlossen.Stereo vision is a passive method used to recover the depth information of a scene, which is lost during the projection of a point in the 3D-scene onto the 2D image plane. In stereo vision, in which two or more views of a scene are used, the depth information can be reconstructed from the different positions in the images to which a physical point in the 3D-scene is projected. The displacement of the corresponding positions in the image planes is called disparity. The central problem in stereo vision, known as the correspondence problem, is to find corresponding points or features in the images. This task can be an ambiguous one due to several similar structures or periodic elements in the images. Furthermore, there may be occluded regions in the scene, which can be seen only by one camera. In these regions there is no solution for the correspondence problem. Interocular differences such as perspective distortions, differences in illumination and camera noise make it even more difficult to solve the correspondence problem. The main focus of this work is a new stereo matching algorithm, in which the matching of occluded areas is suppressed by a self-organizing process. In the first step the images are filtered by a set of oriented Gabor filters. A complex valued correlation-based similarity measurement, which is applied to the responses of the Gabor filters, is used in the second step to initialize a self-organizing process. In this self-organizing network, which is described by coupled, non-linear evolution equations, the continuity and the uniqueness constraints are established. Occlusions are detected implicitly without a computationally intensive bidirectional matching strategy.von Dipl.-Ing. Ralph Trapp aus Winterberg. Referent: Prof. Dr. rer. nat Georg Hartmann, Korreferent: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulrich RückertTag der Verteidigung: 15.09.1998Universität Paderborn, Univ., Dissertation, 199