Flicker Observer Effect: Guiding Attention Through High Frequency Flicker in Images

dc.contributor.authorWaldin, Nicholasen_US
dc.contributor.authorWaldner, Manuelaen_US
dc.contributor.authorViola, Ivanen_US
dc.contributor.editorLoic Barthe and Bedrich Benesen_US
dc.date.accessioned2017-04-22T16:27:29Z
dc.date.available2017-04-22T16:27:29Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractDrawing the user's gaze to an important item in an image or a graphical user interface is a common challenge. Usually, some form of highlighting is used, such as a clearly distinct color or a border around the item. Flicker can also be very salient, but is often perceived as annoying. In this paper, we explore high frequency flicker (60 to 72 Hz) to guide the user's attention in an image. At such high frequencies, the critical flicker frequency (CFF) threshold is reached, which makes the flicker appear to fuse into a stable signal. However, the CFF is not uniform across the visual field, but is higher in the peripheral vision at normal lighting conditions. Through experiments, we show that high frequency flicker can be easily detected by observers in the peripheral vision, but the signal is hardly visible in the foveal vision when users directly look at the flickering patch. We demonstrate that this property can be used to draw the user's attention to important image regions using a standard high refresh-rate computer monitor with minimal visible modifications to the image. In an uncalibrated visual search task, users could in a crowded image easily spot the specified search targets flickering with very high frequency. They also reported that high frequency flicker was distracting when they had to attend to another region, while it was hardly noticeable when looking at the flickering region itself.en_US
dc.description.number2
dc.description.sectionheadersFocus and Virtual Environments
dc.description.seriesinformationComputer Graphics Forum
dc.description.volume36
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/cgf.13141
dc.identifier.issn1467-8659
dc.identifier.pages467-476
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.13141
dc.identifier.urihttps://diglib.eg.org:443/handle/10.1111/cgf13141
dc.publisherThe Eurographics Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.en_US
dc.subjectH.5.2 [Computer Graphics]
dc.subjectUser Interfaces
dc.subjectEvaluation/methodology
dc.titleFlicker Observer Effect: Guiding Attention Through High Frequency Flicker in Imagesen_US
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