The human visual system is optimised for processing the spatial information in natural visual images
Parraga, Carlos Alejandro (University of Bristol. Department of Experimental Psychology)
Troscianko, Tom (University of Bristol. Department of Experimental Psychology)
Tolhurst, D. J. (University of Cambridge. Department of Physiology)

Date:	2000
Abstract:	A fundamental tenet of visual science is that the detailed properties of visual systems are not capricious accidents, but are closely matched by evolution and neonatal experience to the environments and lifestyles in which those visual systems must work [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. This has been shown most convincingly for fish [6] and insects [7]. For mammalian vision, however, this tenet is based more upon theoretical arguments [8, 9, 10, 11] than upon direct observations [12, 13]. Here, we describe experiments that require human observers to discriminate between pictures of slightly different faces or objects. These are produced by a morphing technique that allows small, quantifiable changes to be made in the stimulus images. The independent variable is designed to give increasing deviation from natural visual scenes, and is a measure of the Fourier composition of the image (its second-order statistics). Performance in these tests was best when the pictures had natural second-order spatial statistics, and degraded when the images were made less natural. Furthermore, performance can be explained with a simple model of contrast coding, based upon the properties of simple cells [14, 15, 16, 17] in the mammalian visual cortex. The findings thus provide direct empirical support for the notion that human spatial vision is optimised to the second-order statistics of the optical environment.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Vision ; Visual cortex ; Natural images ; Spatial vision ; Power spectra
Published in:	Current Biology, Vol. 10, Issue 1 (January 2000) , p. 35-38, ISSN 1879-0445

DOI: 10.1016/S0960-9822(99)00262-6

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