Color and contrast perception in monochrome medical imaging flat-panel displays

Aldo Badano; Jerzy Kanicki

doi:10.1117/12.431170

26 June 2001 Color and contrast perception in monochrome medical imaging flat-panel displays

Aldo Badano, Jerzy Kanicki

Proceedings Volume 4324, Medical Imaging 2001: Image Perception and Performance; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.431170
Event: Medical Imaging 2001, 2001, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The interpretation of diagnostic grayscale images by human beings relies on luminance discrimination at photopic levels. The observer in his search for abnormality relies on luminance modulation. If this hypothesis is valid, then the color of a monochrome presentation should not affect diagnostic performance when the image luminance is equivalent to grayscale levels. Does observer preference for a particular tint influence his performance defining an ideally colored grayscale? In this paper, we studied the variations in supra-threshold contrast perception when using different colored scales to display psychophysics targets on uniform background. We used targets with six different colored scales based upon the hue and saturation levels, while maintaining a constant luminosity. The six colored scales and the 'white' grayscale constituted our set of seven colored scales used in a two-alternative forced choice scheme with random presentation and eighteen observers. All image targets contained the same degree of physical contrast and the same luminance values. We computed the degree of preference for all possible combinations of two colored scales. In spite of large inter-observer variability, we found that green and blue scales result in higher perceived contrast.

Citation Download Citation

Aldo Badano and Jerzy Kanicki "Color and contrast perception in monochrome medical imaging flat-panel displays", Proc. SPIE 4324, Medical Imaging 2001: Image Perception and Performance, (26 June 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.431170

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available