Visual Psychophysics ─ From Laboratory to Theory

Vision is one of the most active areas in biomedical research, and visualpsychophysical techniques are a foundational methodology for this research enterprise. Visualpsychophysics, which studies the relationship between the physical world and human behavior, is aclassical field of study that has widespread applications in modern vision science. Bridging the gapbetween theory and practice, this textbook provides a comprehensive treatment of visualpsychophysics, teaching not only basic techniques but also sophisticated data analysis methodologiesand theoretical approaches. It begins with practical information about setting up a vision lab andgoes on to discuss the creation, manipulation, and display of visual images; timing and integrationof displays with measurements of brain activities and other relevant techniques; experimentaldesigns; estimation of behavioral functions; and examples of psychophysics in applied and clinicalsettings.

The book's treatment of experimental designs presents the most commonlyused psychophysical paradigms, theory-driven psychophysical experiments, and the analysis of theseprocedures in a signal-detection theory framework. The book discusses the theoretical underpinningsof data analysis and scientific interpretation, presenting data analysis techniques that includemodel fitting, model comparison, and a general framework for optimized adaptive testing methods. Itincludes many sample programs in Matlab with functions from Psychtoolbox, a free toolbox forreal-time experimental control. Once students and researchers have mastered the material in thisbook, they will have the skills to apply visual psychophysics to cutting-edge visionscience.

Barbara Dosher is Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Sciences and Dean of the School of Social Sciences at the University of California, Irvine.