PERCEPTUAL ABILITY WITH REAL-WORLD NIGHTTIME SCENES: IMAGE-INTENSIFIED, INFRARED, AND FUSED-COLOR IMAGERY

This study investigated human perceptual performance allowed by relatively impoverished information conveyed in nighttime natural scenes. Researchers used images of nighttime outdoor scenes rendered in image-intensified low-light visible (i-squared) sensors, thermal infrared (ir) sensors, and an i-squared/ir fusion technique with information added. They found that nighttime imagery provides adequate low-level image information for effective perceptual organization on a classification task, but that performance for exemplars within a given object category is dependent on the image type. Overall performance was best with the false-color fused images. This is consistent with the suggestion in the literature that color plays a predominate role in perceptual grouping and segmenting of objects in a scene and supports the suggestion that the addition of color in complex achromatic scenes aids the perceptual organization required for visual search. The study addresses the issue of assessment of perceptual performance with alternative night-vision sensors and fusion methods and begins to characterize perceptual organization abilities permitted by the information in relatively impoverished images of complex scenes. Applications of this research include improving night vision, medical, and other devices that use alternative sensors or degraded imagery.

  • Availability:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This research was supported by Grants #N000145-95-1-0411 and #N00014-99-1-0515 to E.A. Essock, and Grants #N0001497WR30078 and #N000149WR30091 to W.K. Krebs from the Office of Naval Research.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

    P.O. Box 1369
    Santa Monica, CA  United States  90406-1369
  • Authors:
    • Essock, E A
    • Sinai, M J
    • McCarley, J S
    • Krebs, W K
    • DeFord, J K
  • Publication Date: 1999-9

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Features: Figures; References;
  • Pagination: p. 438-452
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00788946
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Contract Numbers: OGP0046593, N000145-95-1-0411, N00014-99-1-0516
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Mar 18 2000 12:00AM