Statistical correlates of perceived gloss in natural images

It is currently debated whether the perception of gloss is linked to the statistical parameters of the retinal image. In particular, it has been suggested that gloss is highly correlated with the skewness of the luminance histogram. However, other psychophysical work with artificial stimuli has shown that skewness alone is not enough to induce the perception of gloss. Here, we analyzed many images of natural surfaces to search for potential statistical correlates of perceived gloss. We found that skewness indeed correlates with gloss when using rendered stimuli, but that the standard deviation, a measure of contrast, correlates better with perceived gloss when using photographs of natural surfaces. We verified the important role of contrast by manipulating skewness and contrast within images. Changing the contrast in images significantly modulates perceived gloss, but manipulating the skewness of the luminance histogram had only a small effect.

[1]  R. Fleming.  Visual perception of materials and their properties , 2014, Vision Research.

[2]  E. Adelson,et al.  Accuracy and speed of material categorization in real-world images. , 2014, Journal of vision.

[3]  Vision Research , 1961, Nature.

[4]  Huseyin Boyaci,et al.  Estimating the glossiness transfer function induced by illumination change and testing its transitivity. , 2010, Journal of vision.

[5]  E. Adelson,et al.  Image statistics and the perception of surface qualities , 2007, Nature.

[6]  Phillip J. Marlow,et al.  The perception of gloss depends on highlight congruence with surface shading. , 2011, Journal of vision.

[7]  Christiane B Wiebel,et al.  Visual and haptic representations of material properties. , 2013, Multisensory research.

[8]  D. Heeger,et al.  Modulation of Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Binocular Rivalry by Collinear Facilitation and Pattern-dependent Adaptation , 2022 .

[9]  David Attewell,et al.  The distribution of reflectances within the visual environment , 2007, Vision Research.

[10]  E. Mingolla,et al.  Remote Effects of Highlights on Gloss Perception , 2005, Perception.

[11]  Lavanya Sharan,et al.  The perception of material qualities in real-world images , 2009 .

[12]  Karl R. Gegenfurtner,et al.  The representation of material categories in the brain , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[13]  Eero P. Simoncelli,et al.  A Parametric Texture Model Based on Joint Statistics of Complex Wavelet Coefficients , 2000, International Journal of Computer Vision.

[14]  Gregory J. Ward,et al.  The RADIANCE lighting simulation and rendering system , 1994, SIGGRAPH.

[15]  H H Bülthoff,et al.  Detection of animals in natural images using far peripheral vision , 2001, The European journal of neuroscience.

[16]  Sarah H. Creem-Regehr,et al.  Visual Perception from a Computer Graphics Perspective , 2011 .

[17]  Christiane B. Wiebel,et al.  A comparison of haptic material perception in blind and sighted individuals , 2015, Vision Research.

[18]  Gregory J. Ward,et al.  Measuring and modeling anisotropic reflection , 1992, SIGGRAPH.

[19]  H. Bülthoff,et al.  Does the brain know the physics of specular reflection? , 1990, Nature.

[20]  Barton L Anderson,et al.  Visual perception of materials and surfaces , 2011, Current Biology.

[21]  Karl R Gegenfurtner,et al.  Higher order color mechanisms: evidence from noise-masking experiments in cone contrast space. , 2013, Journal of vision.

[22]  S. Pont,et al.  Material — Illumination Ambiguities and the Perception of Solid Objects , 2006, Perception.

[23]  S. Nishida,et al.  Use of image-based information in judgments of surface-reflectance properties. , 1998, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[24]  Edward H. Adelson,et al.  Material perception: What can you see in a brief glance? , 2010 .

[25]  Phillip J. Marlow,et al.  The Perception and Misperception of Specular Surface Reflectance , 2012, Current Biology.

[26]  R. S. Hunter,et al.  Methods of determining gloss , 1937 .

[27]  S. Dakin,et al.  Metamorphopsia and letter recognition. , 2014, Journal of vision.

[28]  K. Gegenfurtner,et al.  Optimal sampling of visual information for lightness judgments , 2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[29]  Maria Olkkonen,et al.  Perceived glossiness and lightness under real-world illumination. , 2010, Journal of vision.

[30]  F. Scharnowski,et al.  Long-lasting modulation of feature integration by transcranial magnetic stimulation. , 2009, Journal of vision.

[31]  S. Thorpe,et al.  Speed of processing in the human visual system , 1996, Nature.

[32]  Barton L Anderson,et al.  Image statistics and the perception of surface gloss and lightness. , 2010, Journal of vision.

[33]  Roland W Fleming,et al.  Real-world illumination and the perception of surface reflectance properties. , 2003, Journal of vision.

[34]  J. Beck,et al.  Highlights and the perception of glossiness , 1981, Perception & psychophysics.

[35]  Matteo Valsecchi,et al.  Selection of visual information for lightness judgements by eye movements , 2013, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[36]  Donald P. Greenberg,et al.  Psychophysically based model of surface gloss perception , 2001, IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging.

[37]  E. Adelson,et al.  Image statistics for surface reflectance perception. , 2008, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[38]  M. Landy,et al.  Conjoint Measurement of Gloss and Surface Texture , 2008, Psychological science.

[39]  Christiane B Wiebel,et al.  The speed and accuracy of material recognition in natural images , 2013, Attention, perception & psychophysics.

[40]  Barton L Anderson,et al.  Image statistics do not explain the perception of gloss and lightness. , 2009, Journal of vision.

[41]  Sylvia C. Pont,et al.  A comparison of material and illumination discrimination performance for real rough, real smooth and computer generated smooth spheres , 2005, APGV '05.

[42]  Roland W Fleming,et al.  Human Perception: Visual Heuristics in the Perception of Glossiness , 2012, Current Biology.

[43]  David H Brainard,et al.  Joint effects of illumination geometry and object shape in the perception of surface reflectance , 2011, i-Perception.

[44]  Edward H. Adelson,et al.  On seeing stuff: the perception of materials by humans and machines , 2001, IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging.

[45]  Jan J. Koenderink,et al.  Reflectance from locally glossy thoroughly pitted surfaces , 2005, Comput. Vis. Image Underst..

[46]  Paul Debevec.  Rendering synthetic objects into real scenes: bridging traditional and image-based graphics with global illumination and high dynamic range photography , 2008, SIGGRAPH Classes.