This book is an international collection of contributions from academia, industry and the armed forces. It addresses current and emerging Spatial Vision Models and their application to the understanding, prediction and evaluation of the tasks of target detection and recognition. The discussion in many of the chapters is framed in terms of military targets and military vision aids. However, the techniques analyses and problems are by no means limited to this area of application. The detection and recognition of an armored vehicle from a reconnaissance image are performed by the same visual system used to detect and recognize a tumor in an X-ray. The analysis of the interaction of the human visual system with night vision devices is not different from the analysis needed in the case of an operator examining structures using a remote (endoscopic) camera, etc. The book is organized into three general sections. The first covers basic modeling of central (foveal) vision and its theoretical background. The second is centered on the evaluation of model performance in applications, while the third is dedicated to aspects of peripheral vision modeling and the expansion of peripheral modeling to include visual search.

Information on visual target detection is widely scattered in the literature. The thesis presents a review and a categorization of current literature and provides a general discussion of representative models in the field of visual target detection. A literature research matrix is presented to aid the researcher in locating existing models which meet his requirements. (Author).

The object was to develop a simple, operational model for predicting air-to-ground visual detection/identification of tactical targets. The model, based on data from the literature, was limited to conditions of daylight and clear visibility. A preliminary model was developed using data from a field study (J.A. Whittenburg, J.P. Robinson and J.M. Hesson. Aerial observer criterion field test manual. Arlington, Va., Human Sciences Research, Inc., Sept. 1959. HSR-RR-59/4-CE) of air-to-ground detection/identification of tactical targets. Variables to be included in the model were selected from a list of variables found to be important in previous studies. The model includes estimates of eight input variables--target size, target shape, target/ground contrast, clutter, terrain type, aircraft altitude, aircraft speed, and range--which were grouped into three composite variables (target apparent size, target distinctiveness, and effective exposure time). A numerical summary of relevant studies on target detection/identification and a description of model calculations are presented as appendices.

Results of a previous study (see AD-720 800) suggested that the effect of motion on detecability might be caused entirely by contrast changes as the target moves over a complex background. The test documented in the present study, employing a television display and an artificial background, showed independent effects of both contrast and motion on target detectability. The effects can be accounted for by modifying the exponent in the detection probability function with a linear contrast term and a second-power velocity term. Single-fixation experiments confirmed a larger aperture for moving targets than for static targets, and also demonstrated a gradual increase in the fixation time required to detect a target as a function of its distance from the fixation point. (Author).