Perceptual Effects of a Gaze-contingent Multi-resolution Display Based on a Model of Visual Sensitivity?

Many interactive single-user image display applications have prohibitively large bandwidth requirements. However, bandwidth can be greatly reduced by using gaze-contingent multi-resolution displays (GCMRDs) that put high-resolution only at the center of vision based on eye position. A study is described in which photographic GCMRD images were filtered as a function of contrast, spatial frequency, and retinal eccentricity, on the basis of a model of visual sensitivity. This model has previously only been tested using sinusoidal grating patches. The current study measured viewers’ image quality judgments and their eye movement parameters, and found that photographic images filtered at a level predicted to be at or below perceptual threshold produced results statistically indistinguishable from that of a full high-resolution display.