Abstract
The relationship between the Fourier spectra of visual textures (represented by four hypothetical visual channels sensitive to spatial frequencies) and the perceptual appearance of the textures was investigated. Thirty textures were synthesized by combining various spatial frequencies of different amplitudes. Twenty subjects grouped the textures into 2, 3, 4, and 5 groups based on the similarity of their appearance. The groupings were analyzed by means of linear discriminant analysis using the activity of the four channels as predictor variables. The groupings were also examined by multidimensional scaling, and the resulting stimulus configuration was canonically correlated with the channel activity. The results of both analyses indicate a strong relationship between the perceptual appearance of the textures and their Fourier spectra. These findings suport a multiple-channel spatial-frequency model of perception.
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The data analysis and preparation of this manuscript were partially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (BNS76-04652) to the first author. We thank Jonathan O. Roberts for several suggestions concerning the analysis of the data.
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Harvey, L.O., Gervais, M.J. Visual texture perception and Fourier analysis. Perception & Psychophysics 24, 534–542 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198780
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198780