Effect of Contrast Changes in Wood-grain Patterns by Coating on Visual Attractiveness

Wood has a highly aesthetic appearance. There have been some efforts to elucidate its psychological and/or physiological effects on humans, but quantitative data are still insufficient. This study aimed to examine the effect of contrast change in grain patterns on visual attractiveness and impressions. Three species and ten coating specifications were selected and thirty kinds of fancy veneer overlaid plywood were prepared. Their surface images were captured by the imaging spectroscope system, and were subjected to histogram analysis and multi-resolution contrast analysis to derive contrast values as image characteristics. The specimens were also provided for free observation and sensory evaluation by 27 subjects. During the observation, eye fixations of the subjects were recorded by an eye tracker. The contrast values derived from the image analyses exactly expressed the appearance change by coatings, and showed highly positive correlation to “subjective noticeability of grain patterns.” Moreover, the eye tracking revealed that the visual attractiveness of the specimens was affected by the contrast changes.