On the contrast-dependence of crowding

TL;DR

This paper introduces a generalized contrast energy metric that explains many crowding phenomena in vision science, suggesting contrast effects are a primary factor in visual clutter and crowding.

Contribution

A new contrast energy formulation that unifies and predicts crowding effects, simplifying previous complex theories and highlighting contrast as a key factor.

Findings

Contrast energy predicts crowding phenomena

Adding flankers can reduce crowding effects

Contrast effects may underlie early crowding phenomena

Abstract

Visual clutter affects our ability to see: objects that would be identifiable on their own, may become unrecognizable when presented close together ("crowding") -- but the psychophysical characteristics of crowding have resisted simplification. Image properties initially thought to produce crowding have paradoxically yielded unexpected results, e.g., adding flanking objects can ameliorate crowding (Manassi, Sayim et al., 2012; Herzog, Sayim et al., 2015; Pachai, Doerig et al., 2016). The resulting theory revisions have been sufficiently complex and specialized as to make it difficult to discern what principles may underlie the observed phenomena. A generalized formulation of simple visual contrast energy is presented, arising from straightforward analyses of center and surround neurons in the early visual stream. Extant contrast measures, such as RMS contrast, are easily shown to fall out as reduced special cases. The new generalized contrast energy metric surprisingly predicts the principal findings of a broad range of crowding studies. These early crowding phenomena may thus be said to arise predominantly from contrast, or are, at least, severely confounded by contrast effects. (These findings may be distinct from accounts of other, likely downstream, "configural" or "semantic" instances of crowding, suggesting at least two separate forms of crowding that may resist unification.) The new fundamental contrast energy formulation provides a candidate explanatory framework that addresses multiple psychophysical phenomena beyond crowding.