Investigating binocular summation in human vision using complementary fused external noise

The impact noise has on the processing of visual information at various stages within the human visual system (HVS) is still an open research area. To gain additional insight, twelve experiments were administered to human observers using sine wave targets to determine their contrast thresholds. A single frame of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and its complement were used to investigate the effect of noise on the summation of visual information within the HVS. A standard contrast threshold experiment served as the baseline for comparisons. In the standard experiment, a range of sine wave targets are shown to the observers and their ability to detect the targets at varying contrast levels were recorded. The remaining experiments added some form of noise (noise image or its complement) and/or an additional sine wave target separated between one to three octaves to the test target. All of these experiments were tested using either a single monitor for viewing the targets or with a dual monitor presentation method for comparison. In the dual monitor experiments, a ninety degree mirror was used to direct each target to a different eye, allowing for the information to be fused binocularly. The experiments in this study present different approaches for delivering external noise to the HVS, and should allow for an improved understanding regarding how noise enters the HVS and what impact noise has on the processing of visual information.