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19 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2002

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Real-Time Statistical Learning for Oculomotor Control and Visuomotor Coordination

Vijayakumar, S., Souza, A., Peters, J., Conradt, J., Rutkowski, T., Ijspeert, A., Nakanishi, J., Inoue, M., Shibata, T., Wiryo, A., Itti, L., Amari, S., Schaal, S.

(Editors: Becker, S. , S. Thrun, K. Obermayer), Sixteenth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS), December 2002 (poster)

Web [BibTex]

2002

Vijayakumar, S., Souza, A., Peters, J., Conradt, J., Rutkowski, T., Ijspeert, A., Nakanishi, J., Inoue, M., Shibata, T., Wiryo, A., Itti, L., Amari, S., Schaal, S. Real-Time Statistical Learning for Oculomotor Control and Visuomotor Coordination (Editors: Becker, S. , S. Thrun, K. Obermayer), Sixteenth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS), December 2002 (poster)

Web [BibTex]

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Surface-slant-from-texture discrimination: Effects of slant level and texture type

Rosas, P., Wichmann, F., Wagemans, J.

Journal of Vision, 2(7):300, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS), November 2002 (poster)

Abstract
The problem of surface-slant-from-texture was studied psychophysically by measuring the performances of five human subjects in a slant-discrimination task with a number of different types of textures: uniform lattices, randomly displaced lattices, polka dots, Voronoi tessellations, orthogonal sinusoidal plaid patterns, fractal or 1/f noise, “coherent” noise and a “diffusion-based” texture (leopard skin-like). The results show: (1) Improving performance with larger slants for all textures. (2) A “non-symmetrical” performance around a particular slant characterized by a psychometric function that is steeper in the direction of the more slanted orientation. (3) For sufficiently large slants (66 deg) there are no major differences in performance between any of the different textures. (4) For slants at 26, 37 and 53 degrees, however, there are marked differences between the different textures. (5) The observed differences in performance across textures for slants up to 53 degrees are systematic within subjects, and nearly so across them. This allows a rank-order of textures to be formed according to their “helpfulness” — that is, how easy the discrimination task is when a particular texture is mapped on the surface. Polka dots tended to allow the best slant discrimination performance, noise patterns the worst up to the large slant of 66 degrees at which performance was almost independent of the particular texture chosen. Finally, our large number of 2AFC trials (approximately 2800 trials per texture across subjects) and associated tight confidence intervals may enable us to find out about which statistical properties of the textures could be responsible for surface-slant-from-texture estimation, with the ultimate goal of being able to predict observer performance for any arbitrary texture.

Web DOI [BibTex]

Rosas, P., Wichmann, F., Wagemans, J. Surface-slant-from-texture discrimination: Effects of slant level and texture type Journal of Vision, 2(7):300, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS), November 2002 (poster)

Web DOI [BibTex]

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Modelling Contrast Transfer in Spatial Vision

Wichmann, F.

Journal of Vision, 2(10):7, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS), November 2002 (poster)

Abstract
Much of our information about spatial vision comes from detection experiments involving low-contrast stimuli. Contrast discrimination experiments provide one way to explore the visual system's response to stimuli of higher contrast, the results of which allow different models of contrast processing (e.g. energy versus gain-control models) to be critically assessed (Wichmann & Henning, 1999). Studies of detection and discrimination using pulse train stimuli in noise, on the other hand, make predictions about the number, position and properties of noise sources within the processing stream (Henning, Bird & Wichmann, 2002). Here I report modelling results combining data from both sinusoidal and pulse train experiments in and without noise to arrive at a more tightly constrained model of early spatial vision.

Web DOI [BibTex]

Wichmann, F. Modelling Contrast Transfer in Spatial Vision Journal of Vision, 2(10):7, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS), November 2002 (poster)

Web DOI [BibTex]

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Pulse train detection and discrimination in pink noise

Henning, G., Wichmann, F., Bird, C.

Journal of Vision, 2(7):229, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS), November 2002 (poster)

Abstract
Much of our information about spatial vision comes from detection experiments involving low-contrast stimuli. Contrast discrimination experiments provide one way to explore the visual system's response to stimuli of higher contrast. We explored both detection and contrast discrimination performance with sinusoidal and "pulse-train" (or line) gratings. Both types of grating had a fundamental spatial frequency of 2.09-c/deg but the pulse-train, ideally, contains, in addition to its fundamental component, all the harmonics of the fundamental. Although the 2.09-c/deg pulse-train produced on the display was measured and shown to contain at least 8 harmonics at equal contrast, it was no more detectable than its most detectable component; no benefit from having additional information at the harmonics was measurable. The addition of broadband "pink" noise, designed to equalize the detectability of the components of the pulse train, made it about a factor of four more detectable than any of its components. However, in contrast-discrimination experiments, with an in-phase pedestal or masking grating of the same form and phase as the signal and 15% contrast, the noise did not improve the discrimination performance of the pulse train relative to that of its sinusoidal components. In contrast, a 2.09-c/deg "super train," constructed to have 8 equally detectable harmonics, was a factor of five more detectable than any of its components. We discuss the implications of these observations for models of early vision in particular the implications for possible sources of internal noise.

Web DOI [BibTex]

Henning, G., Wichmann, F., Bird, C. Pulse train detection and discrimination in pink noise Journal of Vision, 2(7):229, Second Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (VSS), November 2002 (poster)

Web DOI [BibTex]

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Phase information in the recognition of natural images

Braun, D., Wichmann, F., Gegenfurtner, K.

Perception, 31(ECVP Abstract Supplement):133, 25th European Conference on Visual Perception, August 2002 (poster)

Abstract
Fourier phase plays an important role in determining global image structure. For example, when the phase spectrum of an image of a flower is swapped with that of a tank, we usually perceive a tank, even though the amplitude spectrum is still that of the flower. Similarly, when the phase spectrum of an image is randomly swapped across frequencies, that is its Fourier energy is randomly distributed over the image, the resulting image becomes impossible to recognise. Our goal was to evaluate the effect of phase manipulations in a quantitative manner. Subjects viewed two images of natural scenes, one of which contained an animal (the target) embedded in the background. The spectra of the images were manipulated by adding random phase noise at each frequency. The phase noise was the independent variable, uniformly distributed between 0° and ±180°. Subjects were remarkably resistant to phase noise. Even with ±120° noise, subjects were still 75% correct. The proportion of correct answers closely followed the correlation between original and noise-distorted images. Thus it appears as if it was not the global phase information per se that determines our percept of natural images, but rather the effect of phase on local image features.

Web [BibTex]

Braun, D., Wichmann, F., Gegenfurtner, K. Phase information in the recognition of natural images Perception, 31(ECVP Abstract Supplement):133, 25th European Conference on Visual Perception, August 2002 (poster)

Web [BibTex]

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Detection and discrimination in pink noise

Wichmann, F., Henning, G.

5, pages: 100, 5. T{\"u}binger Wahrnehmungskonferenz (TWK), February 2002 (poster)

Abstract
Much of our information about early spatial vision comes from detection experiments involving low-contrast stimuli, which are not, perhaps, particularly "natural" stimuli. Contrast discrimination experiments provide one way to explore the visual system's response to stimuli of higher contrast whilst keeping the number of unknown parameters comparatively small. We explored both detection and contrast discrimination performance with sinusoidal and "pulse-train" (or line) gratings. Both types of grating had a fundamental spatial frequency of 2.09-c/deg but the pulse-train, ideally, contains, in addition to its fundamental component, all the harmonics of the fundamental. Although the 2.09-c/deg pulse-train produced on our display was measured using a high-performance digital camera (Photometrics) and shown to contain at least 8 harmonics at equal contrast, it was no more detectable than its most detectable component; no benefit from having additional information at the harmonics was measurable. The addition of broadband 1-D "pink" noise made it about a factor of four more detectable than any of its components. However, in contrast-discrimination experiments, with an in-phase pedestal or masking grating of the same form and phase as the signal and 15% contrast, the noise did not improve the discrimination performance of the pulse train relative to that of its sinusoidal components. We discuss the implications of these observations for models of early vision in particular the implications for possible sources of internal noise.

Web [BibTex]

Wichmann, F., Henning, G. Detection and discrimination in pink noise 5, pages: 100, 5. T{\"u}binger Wahrnehmungskonferenz (TWK), February 2002 (poster)

Web [BibTex]

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Nonlinear Multivariate Analysis with Geodesic Kernels

Kuss, M.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, February 2002 (diplomathesis)

GZIP [BibTex]

Kuss, M. Nonlinear Multivariate Analysis with Geodesic Kernels Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, February 2002 (diplomathesis)

GZIP [BibTex]

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Concentration Inequalities and Empirical Processes Theory Applied to the Analysis of Learning Algorithms

Bousquet, O.

Biologische Kybernetik, Ecole Polytechnique, 2002 (phdthesis) Accepted

Abstract
New classification algorithms based on the notion of 'margin' (e.g. Support Vector Machines, Boosting) have recently been developed. The goal of this thesis is to better understand how they work, via a study of their theoretical performance. In order to do this, a general framework for real-valued classification is proposed. In this framework, it appears that the natural tools to use are Concentration Inequalities and Empirical Processes Theory. Thanks to an adaptation of these tools, a new measure of the size of a class of functions is introduced, which can be computed from the data. This allows, on the one hand, to better understand the role of eigenvalues of the kernel matrix in Support Vector Machines, and on the other hand, to obtain empirical model selection criteria.

PostScript [BibTex]

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Support Vector Machines: Induction Principle, Adaptive Tuning and Prior Knowledge

Chapelle, O.

Biologische Kybernetik, 2002 (phdthesis)

Abstract
This thesis presents a theoretical and practical study of Support Vector Machines (SVM) and related learning algorithms. In a first part, we introduce a new induction principle from which SVMs can be derived, but some new algorithms are also presented in this framework. In a second part, after studying how to estimate the generalization error of an SVM, we suggest to choose the kernel parameters of an SVM by minimizing this estimate. Several applications such as feature selection are presented. Finally the third part deals with the incoporation of prior knowledge in a learning algorithm and more specifically, we studied the case of known invariant transormations and the use of unlabeled data.

GZIP [BibTex]

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Application of Monte Carlo Methods to Psychometric Function Fitting

Wichmann, F.

Proceedings of the 33rd European Conference on Mathematical Psychology, pages: 44, 2002 (poster)

Abstract
The psychometric function relates an observer's performance to an independent variable, usually some physical quantity of a stimulus in a psychophysical task. Here I describe methods to (1) fitting psychometric functions, (2) assessing goodness-of-fit, and (3) providing confidence intervals for the function's parameters and other estimates derived from them. First I describe a constrained maximum-likelihood method for parameter estimation. Using Monte-Carlo simulations I demonstrate that it is important to have a fitting method that takes stimulus-independent errors (or "lapses") into account. Second, a number of goodness-of-fit tests are introduced. Because psychophysical data sets are usually rather small I advocate the use of Monte Carlo resampling techniques that do not rely on asymptotic theory for goodness-of-fit assessment. Third, a parametric bootstrap is employed to estimate the variability of fitted parameters and derived quantities such as thresholds and slopes. I describe how the bootstrap bridging assumption, on which the validity of the procedure depends, can be tested without incurring too high a cost in computation time. Finally I describe how the methods can be extended to test hypotheses concerning the form and shape of several psychometric functions. Software describing the methods is available (http://www.bootstrap-software.com/psignifit/), as well as articles describing the methods in detail (Wichmann&Hill, Perception&Psychophysics, 2001a,b).

[BibTex]

Wichmann, F. Application of Monte Carlo Methods to Psychometric Function Fitting Proceedings of the 33rd European Conference on Mathematical Psychology, pages: 44, 2002 (poster)

[BibTex]

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Optimal linear estimation of self-motion - a real-world test of a model of fly tangential neurons

Franz, MO.

SAB 02 Workshop, Robotics as theoretical biology, 7th meeting of the International Society for Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour (SAB), (Editors: Prescott, T.; Webb, B.), 2002 (poster)

Abstract
The tangential neurons in the fly brain are sensitive to the typical optic flow patterns generated during self-motion (see example in Fig.1). We examine whether a simplified linear model of these neurons can be used to estimate self-motion from the optic flow. We present a theory for the construction of an optimal linear estimator incorporating prior knowledge both about the distance distribution of the environment, and about the noise and self-motion statistics of the sensor. The optimal estimator is tested on a gantry carrying an omnidirectional vision sensor that can be moved along three translational and one rotational degree of freedom. The experiments indicate that the proposed approach yields accurate results for rotation estimates, independently of the current translation and scene layout. Translation estimates, however, turned out to be sensitive to simultaneous rotation and to the particular distance distribution of the scene. The gantry experiments confirm that the receptive field organization of the tangential neurons allows them, as an ensemble, to extract self-motion from the optic flow.

PDF [BibTex]

Franz, MO. Optimal linear estimation of self-motion - a real-world test of a model of fly tangential neurons SAB 02 Workshop, Robotics as theoretical biology, 7th meeting of the International Society for Simulation of Adaptive Behaviour (SAB), (Editors: Prescott, T.; Webb, B.), 2002 (poster)

PDF [BibTex]

1998

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Eine beweistheoretische Anwendung der

Harmeling, S.

Biologische Kybernetik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, May 1998 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

1998

Harmeling, S. Eine beweistheoretische Anwendung der Biologische Kybernetik, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, May 1998 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

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Masking by plaid patterns: effects of presentation time and mask contrast

Wichmann, F., Henning, G.

pages: 115, 1. T{\"u}binger Wahrnehmungskonferenz (TWK 98), February 1998 (poster)

Abstract
Most current models of early spatial vision comprise of sets of orientation- and spatial-frequency selective filters with our without limited non-linear interactions amongst different subsets of the filters. The performance of human observers and of such models for human spatial vision were compared in experiments using maskers with two spatial frequencies (plaid masks). The detectability of horizontally orientated sinusoidal signals at 3.02 c/deg was measured in standard 2AFC-tasks in the presence of plaid patterns with two-components at the same spatial frequency as the signal but at different orientations (+/- 15, 30, 45, and 75 deg from the signal) and with varying contrasts (1.0, 6.25 and 25.0% contrast). In addition, the temporal envelope of the stimulus presentation was either a rectangular pulse of 19.7 msec duration, or a temporal Hanning window of 1497 msec.Threshold elevation varied with plaid component orientation, peaked +/- 30 deg from the signal where nearly a log unit threshold elevation for the 25.0% contrast plaid was observed. For plaids with 1.0% contrast we observed significant facilitation even with plaids whose components were 75 deg from that of the signal. Elevation factors were somewhat lower for the short stimulus presentation time but were still significant (up to a factor of 5 or 6). Despite of the simple nature of the stimuli employed in this study-sinusoidal signal and plaid masks comprised of only two sinusoids-none of the current models of early spatial vision can fully account for all the data gathered.

Web [BibTex]

Wichmann, F., Henning, G. Masking by plaid patterns: effects of presentation time and mask contrast pages: 115, 1. T{\"u}binger Wahrnehmungskonferenz (TWK 98), February 1998 (poster)

Web [BibTex]

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Qualitative Modeling for Data Miner‘s Requirement

Shin, H.

Biologische Kybernetik, Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea, February 1998, Written in Korean (diplomathesis)

ZIP [BibTex]

Shin, H. Qualitative Modeling for Data Miner‘s Requirement Biologische Kybernetik, Hong-Ik University, Seoul, Korea, February 1998, Written in Korean (diplomathesis)

ZIP [BibTex]

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A bootstrap method for testing hypotheses concerning psychometric functions

Hill, N., Wichmann, F.

1998 (poster)

Abstract
Whenever psychometric functions are used to evaluate human performance on some task, it is valuable to examine not only the threshold and slope values estimated from the original data, but also the expected variability in those measures. This allows psychometric functions obtained in two experimental conditions to be compared statistically. We present a method for estimating the variability of thresholds and slopes of psychometric functions. This involves a maximum-likelihood fit to the data using a three-parameter mathematical function, followed by Monte Carlo simulation using the first fit as a generating function for the simulations. The variability of the function's parameters can then be estimated (as shown by Maloney, 1990), as can the variability of the threshold value (Foster & Bischof, 1997). We will show how a simple development of this procedure can be used to test the significance of differences between (a) the thresholds, and (b) the slopes of two psychometric functions. Further, our method can be used to assess the assumptions underlying the original fit, by examining how goodness-of-fit differs in simulation from its original value. In this way data sets can be identified as being either too noisy to be generated by a binomial observer, or significantly "too good to be true." All software is written in MATLAB and is therefore compatible across platforms, with the option of accelerating performance using MATLAB's plug-in binaries, or "MEX" files.

[BibTex]

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Support Vector Machines for Image Classification

Chapelle, O.

Biologische Kybernetik, Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, 1998 (diplomathesis)

GZIP [BibTex]

Chapelle, O. Support Vector Machines for Image Classification Biologische Kybernetik, Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, 1998 (diplomathesis)

GZIP [BibTex]

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Support Vector methods in learning and feature extraction

Schölkopf, B., Smola, A., Müller, K., Burges, C., Vapnik, V.

Ninth Australian Conference on Neural Networks, pages: 72-78, (Editors: T. Downs, M. Frean and M. Gallagher), 1998 (talk)

[BibTex]

Schölkopf, B., Smola, A., Müller, K., Burges, C., Vapnik, V. Support Vector methods in learning and feature extraction Ninth Australian Conference on Neural Networks, pages: 72-78, (Editors: T. Downs, M. Frean and M. Gallagher), 1998 (talk)

[BibTex]

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Nonlinearities and the pedestal effect

Wichmann, F., Henning, G., Ploghaus, A.

Perception, 27, pages: S86, 1998 (poster)

Abstract
Psychophysical and physiological evidence suggests that luminance patterns are independently analysed in "channels" responding to different bands of spatial frequency. There are, however, interactions among stimuli falling well outside the usual estimates of channels' bandwidths (Henning, Hertz, and Broadbent, (1975). Vision Res., 15, 887-899). We examined whether the masking results of Henning et al. are consistent with independent channels. We postulated, before the channels, a point non-linearity which would introduce distortion products that might produce the observed interactions between stimuli two octaves apart in spatial frequency. Standard 2-AFC masking experiments determined whether possible distortion products of a 4.185 c/deg masking sinusoid revealed their presence through effects on the detection of a sinusoidal signal at the frequency of the second harmonic of the masker-8.37 c/deg. The signal and masker were horizontally orientated and the signal was in-phase, out-of-phase, or in quadrature with the putative second-order distortion product of the masker. Significant interactions between signal and masker were observed: for a wide range of masker contrasts, signal detection was facilitated by the masking stimulus. However, the shapes of the functions relating detection performance to masker contrast, as well as the effects of relative phase, were inconsistent with the notion that distortion products were responsible for the interactions observed.

[BibTex]

Wichmann, F., Henning, G., Ploghaus, A. Nonlinearities and the pedestal effect Perception, 27, pages: S86, 1998 (poster)

[BibTex]