Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Difference from Background: Limit of Detection01:05

Difference from Background: Limit of Detection

The limit of detection (LOD) is the smallest amount of analyte that can be distinguished from the background noise. The LOD value corresponds to the concentration at which the analyte signal is three times larger than the standard deviation of the blank signal. Below this value, the analyte signal cannot be differentiated from the background noise. It is calculated by dividing the calibration slope by 3 times the standard deviation of the blank signals.
The LOD indicates the presence or absence...
Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy01:26

Phase Contrast and Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy

Phase-Contrast Microscopes
In-phase-contrast microscopes, interference between light directly passing through a cell and light refracted by cellular components is used to create high-contrast, high-resolution images without staining. It is the oldest and simplest type of microscope that creates an image by altering the wavelengths of light rays passing through the specimen. Altered wavelength paths are created using an annular stop in the condenser. The annular stop produces a hollow cone of...
Perceptual Constancy01:12

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that objects remain consistent and unchanged even when their appearance varies due to changes in sensory input. There are four main types of perceptual constancy: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness constancy.
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals01:02

¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals

Spin systems where the difference in chemical shifts of the coupled nuclei is greater than ten times J are called first-order spin systems. These nuclei are weakly coupled, and their chemical shifts and coupling constant can generally be estimated from the well-separated signals in the spectrum.
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are slanted or...
Detection of Black Holes01:10

Detection of Black Holes

Although black holes were theoretically postulated in the 1920s, they remained outside the domain of observational astronomy until the 1970s.
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location01:21

Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location

The human brain perceives pitch through two primary mechanisms reflected in place theory and frequency theory. Each mechanism describes how sound waves are interpreted as specific pitches by the brain, offering insights into the intricate processes of auditory perception.
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by identifying...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Understanding Navon: Different designs of local-global tasks capture different bias effects.

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2026
Same author

The human language processing system straightens natural speech.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Image space opens up for visual neuroscience.

Neuron·2026
Same author

Reassessing Choice Probability: What 59 Macaque Studies Tell Us About Decision-Related Activity in Visual Cortex.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Tracing aesthetic experience from perception and conception to appraisal using deep convolutional neural networks.

iScience·2026
Same author

From pixels to perception: A benchmark for human-like symmetry detection.

Vision research·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 29, 2026

End-To-End Deep Neural Network for Salient Object Detection in Complex Environments
03:31

End-To-End Deep Neural Network for Salient Object Detection in Complex Environments

Published on: December 15, 2023

Some observations on contrast detection in noise.

Robbe L T Goris1, Peter Zaenen, Johan Wagemans

  • 1Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Robbe.Goris@psy.kuleuven.be

Journal of Vision
|October 4, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Adding weak noise can improve human performance in contrast detection tasks. This study confirmed that noise can enhance visual perception, challenging previous assumptions about visual processing models.

More Related Videos

Transient Optical Clearing Using Absorbing Molecules for Ex Vivo and In Vivo Imaging
07:15

Transient Optical Clearing Using Absorbing Molecules for Ex Vivo and In Vivo Imaging

Published on: July 11, 2025

Troubleshooting and Quality Assurance in Hyperpolarized Xenon Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Tools for High-Quality Image Acquisition
09:55

Troubleshooting and Quality Assurance in Hyperpolarized Xenon Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Tools for High-Quality Image Acquisition

Published on: January 5, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 29, 2026

End-To-End Deep Neural Network for Salient Object Detection in Complex Environments
03:31

End-To-End Deep Neural Network for Salient Object Detection in Complex Environments

Published on: December 15, 2023

Transient Optical Clearing Using Absorbing Molecules for Ex Vivo and In Vivo Imaging
07:15

Transient Optical Clearing Using Absorbing Molecules for Ex Vivo and In Vivo Imaging

Published on: July 11, 2025

Troubleshooting and Quality Assurance in Hyperpolarized Xenon Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Tools for High-Quality Image Acquisition
09:55

Troubleshooting and Quality Assurance in Hyperpolarized Xenon Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Tools for High-Quality Image Acquisition

Published on: January 5, 2024

Area of Science:

  • Visual perception
  • Psychophysics
  • Computational neuroscience

Background:

  • The standard psychophysical model of early visual processing involves linear filtering, nonlinearity, and internal noise.
  • Previous models suggest rectification at the linear filter output could lead to noise benefits.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the prediction that adding weak noise can improve performance in contrast detection tasks.
  • To investigate the underlying mechanisms of noise-induced performance enhancement in vision.

Main Methods:

  • Two contrast detection experiments were conducted using Gabor patterns.
  • Weak-to-modest levels of 2-D white noise were added to visual stimuli.
  • Detection thresholds were measured as a function of noise power.

Main Results:

  • Human performance in contrast detection tasks improved with the addition of weak noise.
  • Detection thresholds showed a non-monotonic relationship with noise power.
  • Simple uncertainty reduction and energy discrimination strategies were ruled out as explanations.

Conclusions:

  • The findings support a model where noise can enhance visual performance, contrary to intuition.
  • A quantitative model consistent with these effects was developed.
  • The results have implications for understanding early visual system function and modeling perception.