Chromatic information and feature detection in fast visual analysis
Abstract
The visual system is able to recognize a scene based on a sketch made of very simple features. This ability is likely crucial for survival, when fast image recognition is necessary, and it is believed that a primal sketch is extracted very early in the visual processing. Such highly simplified representations can be sufficient for accurate object discrimination, but an open question is the role played by color in this process. Rich color information is available in natural scenes, yet artist's sketches are usually monochromatic; and, black-andwhite movies provide compelling representations of real world scenes. Also, the contrast sensitivity of color is low at fine spatial scales. We approach the question from the perspective of optimal information processing by a system endowed with limited computational resources. We show that when such limitations are taken into account, the intrinsic statistical properties of natural scenes imply that the most effective strategy is to ignore fine-scale color features and devote most of the bandwidth to gray-scale information. We find confirmation of these information-based predictions from psychophysics measurements of fast-viewing discrimination of natural scenes. As a result, we conclude that the lack of colored features in our visual representation, and our overall low sensitivitymore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. di Firenze, Firenze (Italy); Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
- Univ. di Pisa, Pisa (Italy); Istituto Nazionale de Fisica Nucleare, Pisa (Italy); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
- Univ. College London, Bloomsbury (United Kingdom)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1333683
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-PUB-16-560
Journal ID: ISSN 1932-6203; 1495140
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- PLoS ONE
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1932-6203
- Publisher:
- Public Library of Science
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; luminance; color vision; visual system; entropy; probability distribution; bandwidth (signal processing); cognition; psychophysics
Citation Formats
Del Viva, Maria M., Punzi, Giovanni, Shevell, Steven K., and Solomon, Samuel G. Chromatic information and feature detection in fast visual analysis. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159898.
Del Viva, Maria M., Punzi, Giovanni, Shevell, Steven K., & Solomon, Samuel G. Chromatic information and feature detection in fast visual analysis. United States. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159898
Del Viva, Maria M., Punzi, Giovanni, Shevell, Steven K., and Solomon, Samuel G. Mon .
"Chromatic information and feature detection in fast visual analysis". United States. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159898. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1333683.
@article{osti_1333683,
title = {Chromatic information and feature detection in fast visual analysis},
author = {Del Viva, Maria M. and Punzi, Giovanni and Shevell, Steven K. and Solomon, Samuel G.},
abstractNote = {The visual system is able to recognize a scene based on a sketch made of very simple features. This ability is likely crucial for survival, when fast image recognition is necessary, and it is believed that a primal sketch is extracted very early in the visual processing. Such highly simplified representations can be sufficient for accurate object discrimination, but an open question is the role played by color in this process. Rich color information is available in natural scenes, yet artist's sketches are usually monochromatic; and, black-andwhite movies provide compelling representations of real world scenes. Also, the contrast sensitivity of color is low at fine spatial scales. We approach the question from the perspective of optimal information processing by a system endowed with limited computational resources. We show that when such limitations are taken into account, the intrinsic statistical properties of natural scenes imply that the most effective strategy is to ignore fine-scale color features and devote most of the bandwidth to gray-scale information. We find confirmation of these information-based predictions from psychophysics measurements of fast-viewing discrimination of natural scenes. As a result, we conclude that the lack of colored features in our visual representation, and our overall low sensitivity to high-frequency color components, are a consequence of an adaptation process, optimizing the size and power consumption of our brain for the visual world we live in.},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0159898},
journal = {PLoS ONE},
number = 8,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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