Computational-observer analysis of illumination discrimination
Authors: Haomiao Jiang
Ana Radonjic
Xiaomao Ding
Brian A Wandell
David H Brainard
Nicolas P Cottaris
Journal: Journal of Vision (2019)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: ambient illumination; spectral properties; perceptual representation; illumination discrimination; cone photopigment
Affiliations: Neuroscience Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA., Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA., Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Sunnyvale, CA, USA., Current address: Google Research., Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Sunnyvale, CA, USA.

Abstract:  The spectral properties of the ambient illumination provide useful information about time of day and weather. We study the perceptual representation of illumination by analyzing measurements of how well people discriminate between illuminations across scene configurations. More specifically, we compare human performance to a computational-observer analysis that evaluates the information available in the isomerizations of cone photopigment in a model human photoreceptor mosaic. The performance of such an observer is limited by the Poisson variability of the number of isomerizations in each cone. The overall level of Poisson-limited computational-observer sensitivity exceeded that of human observers. This was modeled by increasing the amount of noise in the number of isomerizations of each cone. The additional noise brought the overall level of performance of the computational observer into the same range as that of human observers, allowing us to compare the pattern of sensitivity across stimulus manipulations. Key patterns of human performance were not accounted for by the computational observer. In particular, neither the elevation of illumination-discrimination thresholds for illuminant changes in a blue color direction (when thresholds are expressed in CIELUV ΔE units), nor the effects of varying the ensemble of surfaces in the scenes being viewed, could be accounted for by variation in the information available in the cone isomerizations. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 This paper has features suggestive of [what has elsewhere been labeled as  Papermill #2 ] , characterised by stylised geometrical WBs that are reduced to black blobs on a featureless grey background, reminiscent of a Miro painting: ![file] ...and by a small repertoire of recurring flow cytometry plots, ![file] slightly modified by artisanal stippling on each of their occurrences. ![] Other examples are listed in a Google document. https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 1qBqQMXgzxoBd5bTbqdMuapGheupE5bdIopypju417NM edit?usp=sharing The connection between the name of the nominal corresponding author and the corresponding email address is not obvious. ![file] , 
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 2021 retraction. https: content.iospress.com articles cancer-biomarkers cbm210950 IOS Press has retracted the following publication from its online content: [Cancer Biomarkers, 21(1) (2017), 179-186,] 10.3233 CBM-170620 MiR-101 reduces cell proliferation and invasion and enhances apoptosis in endometrial cancer via regulating PI3K Akt mTORSuxia Zhang, Min Wang, Qirong Li and Ping Zhuu2217Department of Obstetrics, Jinan Maternity and Child Care Hospital, Jinan, Shandong, China The above article, originally published in Cancer Biomarkers volume 21, number 1, 2017, pp. 179-186, has been retracted from its online catalogue in consultation between the corresponding author and the publisher of Cancer Biomarkers. The authors found substantial deficiency in the experimental design. Figures 2B, 2D and 3B were made by a third party and the results cannot be replicated. In this light the journal cannot condone publication of this paper and has decided to retract it from its online catalogue. ,