Bialek, A.

Forbes, A.

Goodman, T.

Heijden, G.W.A.M., van der

McGlone, F.

Montgomery, R.

Overliet, K.

Rides, M.

Whitaker, A.

English

Name not available

Measuring Physical and visual material properties to determine their perceives degree of naturalness

Wageningen Yield 

MATERIALS & SENSATIONS 2008, PAU (FRANCE), OCT. 22–24
Measuring physical and visual material
properties to determine their perceived degree
of naturalness
R. Montgomery, A. Bialek, T. Goodman, A. Forbes, M. Rides
National Physical Laboratory (NPL), London, UK
[ruth.montgomery@npl.co.uk]
T.A. Whitaker
School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin,
Ireland
K. Overvliet
Parc Científic de Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
F. McGlone
Unilever R & D, Port Sunlight Laboratory, UK
G. van der Heijden
Biometris / Plant Research International, Wageningen University, The
Netherlands
This project aims to understand how the physical characteristics of a material
determine whether it is perceived as being natural or synthetic. Materials and ob-
jects exhibiting “naturalness” are considered to be highly desirable and “natural”
is often associated with health and well being, whereas “synthetic” can carry ne-
gative connotations. An international team of researchers, including metrologists,
psychologists, neuroscientists and mathematicians, are developing and using novel
state-of-the-art measurement facilities and techniques to investigate how the hu-
man sensory systems (visual and tactile) interact to interpret a physical stimulus
in its environment and to identify which physical parameters are most critical in
determining the perception of naturalness. The results will not only have applica-
tion in automotive design, furniture, clothing and improved medical prostheses, but
may also be used to inform development of more realistic virtual reality systems for
both recreational and serious gaming. This paper describes how the physical pro-
perties (reflectance, colour, gloss, texture, hardness, surface topography, roughness
etc) of pre-selected test samples are measured at the National Physical Labora-
tory, (NPL). In parallel, psychophysical evaluations of perceived naturalness for
pseudo-identical samples are conducted at Barcelona University and the neural in-
terpretation of these surfaces is investigated through neuro-imaging of participants
on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in Trinity College Institute of
Neuroscience. Leading edge data analysis and classification methods are then used
to establish relationships between the physical measurements and the perceived
naturalness, taking account also of the neural and cognitive processes involved.
Initial results are encouraging and give credibility to the aim of creating a predic-
tive model for naturalness with a sound metrological basis, which may be extended
in future to other perceptual phenomena.
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Measuring Physical and visual material properties to determine their perceives degree of naturalness

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