Psychological potential field and human eye fixation on binary line-drawing images: A comparative experimental study

Abstract

Quantitatively evaluating the psychological and perceptual effects of objects is an important issue, but is difficult. In cognitive studies, the psychological potential field (PPF), which represents psychological intensities in vision and can be calculated by applying computational algorithms to digital images, may help with this issue. Although studies have reported using the PPF to evaluate psychological effects, such as impressions, detailed investigations on how the PPF represents psychological perception and its limitations have not yet been performed. Another relevant tool is the fixation map, which visualizes human eye fixations; this map is generated from actual measurements acquired by eye-tracking and does not represent psychological effects directly. Although the PPF and the fixation map are based on visual imaging, they have never been compared. In this paper, we do so for the first time, using psychological and perceptual properties of line-drawing images. The results demonstrate the difference between these methods, including their representation of different properties with respect to visual perception. Moreover, the similarity between the two methods highlights the possibility of assessing perceptual phenomena such as categorization and cognition of objects based on human vision.

Object Categorization Capability of Psychological Potential Field in Perceptual Assessment Using Line-Drawing Images

“…The FMs of the stimuli were generated by the method described in Section 2.2 from the fixation points obtained by the above experiment. FMs of binary line drawings were gender-independent in a previous study [5]; thus, the FMs in this study were generated from all ten participants.…”

“…These findings have simplified object perception investigations because the examination of visual perceptions in color images and associated eye fixations are complex. Furthermore, the perceptual quantities of object categorization may be assessed from eye fixations and a line-drawing image feature, i.e., the psychological potential field (PPF) [5]. Specifically, the similarity values between the PPF [6] and fixation maps (FMs) for visualizing eye fixations mimic actual human perceptions.…”

“…Nevertheless, a few studies applied the PPF to human Kansei evaluation, such as lettering design [13], arch bridge design [14], and female hairstyle [15], and demonstrated its effectiveness. In addition, a previous study [5] indicated that the PPF can be applied to object categorization. Considering these results, further investigation of the PPF may contribute to clarifying the multiple mechanisms of perception and cognition.…”

“…Considering these results, further investigation of the PPF may contribute to clarifying the multiple mechanisms of perception and cognition. As mentioned above, a previous study [5] compared the PPF and FMs and reported that their similarity may be used to assess the visual perceptions of object categorization. Currently, the computational PPF theory was only established for two-dimensional binary images such as line drawings [17,18].…”