Measuring the Effect of High-Level Visual Masking in Subjective Image Quality Assessment with Priming

Abstract

Despite recent advances in subjective image quality research, many fundamental questions are still unanswered. Although we understand early vision fairly well, little is known about late vision and how the two interact with each other. In this paper, we look at one particular limit in that interaction: high-level visual masking, which is best illustrated by the change blindness paradigm. We carried out a user study designed specifically to measure the influence of high-level masking by means of priming. Results suggest a significant influence of high-level masking in image fidelity assessment at the 95% confidence level for half of the participants, with an average magnitude over three times that of intra-observer variability.