title: A feature-based model of symmetry detection.
abstract: Symmetry detection is important for many biological visual systems, including those of mammals, insects and birds. We constructed a symmetry-detection algorithm with two stages: location of the visually salient features of the image, then evaluating the symmetry of these features over a long range, by means of a simple Gaussian filter. The algorithm detects the axis of maximum symmetry for human faces (or any arbitrary image) and calculates the magnitude of the asymmetry. We have evaluated the algorithm on the dataset of Rhodes et al. (1998 Psychonom. Bull. Rev. 5, 659-669) and found that the algorithm is able to discriminate small variations of symmetry created by computer-manipulating the symmetry levels in individual faces, and that the values measured by the algorithm correlate well with human psycho-physical symmetry ratings.
authors.affiliation: Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri, Pisa, Italy. r.scognamillo@sns.it
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scognamillo
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morrone
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Burr
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005145:Face; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D014796:Visual Perception