The Stimulus: Light Visual stimulation is a wave of electromagnetic energy Visual spectrum has a point along a wavelength
Wavelength determines hue (color) – 400 -700 nm Amplitude determines brightness
Pure colored wavelengths are said to be saturated May be diluted with achromatic light (gray) e.g., pure red diluted with achromatic light yields pink
Measurement of brightness or intensity of stimulus reaching the eyeball is more complex Luminous intensity/flux 1 candela or 12.57 lumens Iluminance Foot candle or 10.76 LUX Luminance Candela/M2 or foot lambert Reflectance luminance/iluminance Brightness Actual experience of intensity
Visual Receptor System1. Location – Retina center Fovea (cones) & Periphery
(mostly rods)2. Acuity (ability to resolve fine detail) – much greater
when image on cones3. Sensitivity (ability to detect light) – rods much more
sensitive Scotopic vision – night vision where only rods active Photopic vision – enough light for both rods & cones
4. Color sensitivity – only cones can discriminate all wavelengths
5. Adaptation – Light stimulation causes rods to rapidly lose sensitivity (slow response); cones insensitive to changes (sometimes hypersensitive with little stimulation causes night glare)
6. Differential wavelength sensitivity – cones sensitive to all wavelengths; rods are particularly insensitive to long wavelengths (red)
Sensory Processing Limitations Contrast sensitivity – ability to detect contrast
is essential to detect and recognize shapes C = (L-D)/(L+D) CS = 1/CM
Contrast itself
Level of illumination
Sensory Processing Limitations (cont.)
Reading Print – optimum print size >= 3 cycles/degree (stroke width 1/6 th degree); use familiar fonts; don’t use all uppercase or blocked letters
Color Sensation – best in well illuminated environment; 7% of males colorblind (protanopia). Most prevalent red-green Simultaneous contrast – when two colors next to
each other look the same Negative After Image – occurs when focusing on one
color too long. Night Vision –
loss of contrast sensitivity due to age and low illumination is big problem
at night rods are actively used – lack of perception leads to speeding or overdriving head lights
Bottom-up VS Top-down Prcessing
Bottom-up – stimulus that is there; Top – down – what we expect to be there.
Depth Perception
Pictorial Cues Linear perspective – converging parallel lines Relative size – objects known to be similar size
appear be different size Interposition – one object obscures contour of
another Light & shading – shadows provide evidence as to
location Textured gradients – distant objects have finer
gradient Relative motion or motion parallax – distant
object appear to move slower across the visual field
Visual Search & Detection
Eye movements Pursuit (following a moving object – plane in
the sky) Saccadic
Characteristics – initiation latency, destination, movement time, dwell duration, & useful field of view
Visual search Serial search model – discriminating target
from non-target (distracters) images, T=(NI)/2, top-down
Conspicuity – how well target stands out, bottom-up
Expectancies – experience/knowledge lead to target
Implications of Visual Search Knowledge
Knowledge of conspicuity should lead designer to enhance visibility of target
Knowledge of serial aspects should forewarn the designer about the cost of cluttered displays
Knowledge of the role of top-down processing should lead the designer to structure the search field to take advantage of past experience & intuition
Knowledge of all these influences should lead to visual search models that can predict how long it will take to find particular targets
Signal Detection Theory
SDT assumes world can be modeled with the signal being present or absent (e.g., to luggage inspector weapon is signal and hair blowers, calculators, etc. are noise)
Combination of 2 states of the world present 4 joint events – hits, false alarms, misses, and correct rejections
Difficulties in Mid-Air Detection
Other aircraft inconspicuous – occupies very small visual angle in field of vision
Two aircraft flying toward each other cover 1 mile in as little as 5 seconds
Two aircraft flying toward each other do not appear to be moving in the field of vision
Target may be camouflaged by clouds and ground noise
Not expecting other aircraft affects sensitivity because of top-down processing
Discrimination
Ability to discriminate one signal from another
Recognize that long wave length colors are not easily recognized at night
Recognize that some letters and numbers are similar to others – 0 & O, E & F, 1 & l, etc.
Recognize that placement and design of signs & symbols can be confusing
Recognize that too close proximity can cause confusion
Design accordingly
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