On the number of intensity levels discriminated in textures.
The number of intensity levels detected in briefly displayed textures was studied as a function of two related spatial parameters: granularity and spatial frequency. A texture-discrimination paradigm was used to determine the discriminability of an original texture and of a version of it reduced (further "quantized') in intensity levels over a range of texture granularities and frequency bandwidths. Results show specific sensitivities to intensity level reductions as a function of the spatial-frequency composition of the textures, with particular loss of sensitivity in the higher spatial-frequency regions.
D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011601:Psychophysics; D013028:Space Perception; D014796:Visual Perception