Rapid Material Perception

描述（由申请人提供）：材料的视觉感知是人类视觉的基本组成部分，但目前尚未得到很好的理解。在日常生活中，人们对物质感知的依赖性很强.例如，在导航（我是不是要踩在一个结冰的补丁？），吃（这奶油奶酪发霉了吗？），择偶（我的约会对象皮肤健康吗？），和医学诊断（这是一个可疑的痣？）。以前的材料知觉研究主要使用简单、可控的刺激。这个项目将研究各种各样的自然刺激，如发生在真实的世界。为了做到这一点，将开发出与材料感知中常用的技术截然不同的新技术。还将开发新的图像数据库。在一组实验中，受试者将看到由不同材料制成的固定形状的物体，研究人员将评估受试者判断和描述材料质量的能力。在另一组实验中，受试者将从有限的类别（例如塑料，纸张，布料或金属）中查看图像，研究人员将测量分类的速度和准确性。有证据表明，人类观察者可以极其迅速地提取材料信息，实验将量化这种能力的过程。在其他实验中，受试者将看到以各种方式退化的图像，这将阐明各种因素的重要性，如颜色，对比度和材料感知的细节。该项目将为未来在真实的世界中的材料感知工作提供基础。理解这些基本问题将有助于理解一些实际的视觉问题。例如，随着年龄的增长，人们的视力会下降，这使得人们更难发现地板或人行道上的湿滑区域。材料感知的科学将有助于制定关于人行道和走廊中使用的照明，布局和材料的建议。在另一示例中，当医生正在远程医疗中评估患者时（即，通过视频链路观察患者），不同种类的图像退化将导致在判断例如伤口、皮疹或痣的外观时的不同困难。材料感知的科学可能会导致视频质量的改善，这对远程医疗环境至关重要。公共卫生相关性：材料的视觉感知是一种基本的视觉能力。视力下降限制了对人行道的光滑度、食物的新鲜度或皮肤的健康状况做出基本判断的能力。人们对这些能力知之甚少，拟议中的研究将建立一些理论和实践理解材料感知所需的基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The visual perception of materials is a basic part of human vision, but is currently not well understood. People depend on material perception constantly in daily life. Examples are in navigation (Am I about to step on an icy patch?), eating (Is this cream cheese moldy?), mate selection (Does my date have healthy looking skin?), and medical diagnosis (Is this a suspicious looking mole?). Prior research in material perception has mainly used simple, controllable stimuli. This project will study a diverse range of naturalistic stimuli, such as occur in the real world. In order to do so, novel techniques that are quite different from those commonly used in material perception will be developed. New image databases will also be developed. In one set of experiments, subjects will see objects of a fixed shape made of different materials, and the researchers will assess the subjects' ability to judge and describe material qualities. In another set of experiments, subjects will view images from a finite set of categories, (for example, plastic, paper, cloth, or metal) and the researchers will measure the speed and accuracy of categorization. There is evidence that human observers can extract material information extremely rapidly, the experiments will quantify the course of this capability. In other experiments, subjects will see images that are degraded in various ways, which will elucidate the importance of various factors such as color, contrast, and detail in material perception. The project will provide a foundation for future work on material perception in the real world. An understanding of these basic issues would help in understanding some practical visual problems. For example, as people get older, their vision degrades, making it more difficult to detect slippery patches of floors or sidewalks. A science of material perception would help in developing recommendations on the lighting, layout, and materials used in sidewalks and corridors. In another example, when a physician is evaluating a patient in telemedicine (i.e., viewing the patient over a video link), different kinds of image degradation will lead to different difficulties in judging the appearance of, say, a wound, a rash, or a mole. A science of material perception could lead to improvements in video quality that are essential to the telemedicine setting. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The visual perception of materials is an essential visual capability. Degraded vision limits the ability to make basic judgments about the slipperiness of a sidewalk, the freshness of food, or the health of skin. Little is known about these capabilities, and the proposed research will establish some of the foundations needed for a theoretical and practical understanding of material perception.