One grand challenge for the engineering of multimedia quality has been to develop algorithms that can convert physical measurements – of displays, of images, of graphics, or of video sequences – into metrics that have perceptual meaning. These metrics should enable automated detection of artifacts, and optimization of positive multimedia attributes. In the last decade, we and others have made some progress towards this goal. The progress has been achieved by joining display and image measurements to simplified models of processing in the human visual system. In this talk I will describe several of the key concepts and components of these models, and will show how the models can be applied to key problems in display design and image and video processing. This research may also provide insights for computer graphics applications.

Andrew B. Watson did undergraduate work at Columbia University and received a PhD in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He subsequently held postdoctoral positions at the University of Cambridge in England and at Stanford University in California. Since 1982 he has worked at NASA Ames Research Center in California, where he is the Senior Scientist for Vision Research, and where he works on models of vision and their application to visual technology. He is the author of over 100 papers on topics such as spatial and temporal sensitivity, motion perception, image quality, and neural models of visual coding and processing. He is the author of six patents, in areas such as image compression, video quality, and detection of artifacts in display manufacturing. In 2000, he founded the Journal of Vision (http://journalofvision.org) where he now serves as Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Watson is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, and of the Society for Information Display. He also serves as the Vice Chair for Vision Science and Human Factors of the International Committee on Display Measurement. In 1990, he received NASA’s H. Julian Allen Award for outstanding scientific paper, and in 1993 he was appointed Ames Associate Fellow for exceptional scientific achievement. He is the 2007 recipient of the Otto Schade Award from the Society for Information Display, and the 2008 winner of the Special Recognition Award from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. In 2011, he received the Presidential Rank Award from the President of the United States.