Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 9, 2026
10:09
EasyFiji: A Graphical Interface for User-Friendly Fluorescence Image Processing in Fiji
Published on: February 20, 2026
Controlling low-level image properties: the SHINE toolbox
Verena Willenbockel1, Javid Sadr, Daniel Fiset
1Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. verena.willenbockel@umontreal.ca
Behavior Research Methods
|September 1, 2010
Summary
Researchers developed the SHINE toolbox to control image properties like spectrum and contrast. This helps separate low-level visual factors from high-level cognitive influences in perception studies.
Area of Science:
- Visual perception research
- Computational neuroscience
- Image processing
Background:
- Visual perception is influenced by both top-down (goals, expectations) and bottom-up (luminance, contrast, spatial frequency) processes.
- Disentangling low-level stimulus attributes from high-level cognitive factors is a challenge in visual science.
- Controlling physical stimulus properties is crucial for isolating perceptual mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the SHINE (spectrum, histogram, and intensity normalization and equalization) toolbox for MATLAB.
- To provide a method for controlling and equating image properties across different experimental conditions.
- To minimize low-level confounds in studies investigating higher-level visual processing.
Main Methods:
- The SHINE toolbox offers functions to specify Fourier amplitude spectra.
- It enables normalization and scaling of mean luminance and contrast.
- The toolbox allows for precise histogram specification optimized for visual quality.
Main Results:
- SHINE provides parametric control over multiple image properties simultaneously or individually.
- The toolbox facilitates the equalization of image characteristics across stimuli.
- This enables researchers to minimize confounds arising from low-level stimulus variations.
Conclusions:
- The SHINE toolbox is a valuable resource for visual perception research.
- It aids in the systematic manipulation and control of image properties.
- By minimizing low-level confounds, SHINE supports the investigation of higher-level visual processes.
Related Concept Videos
01:16Focusing of Light in the Eye
Light rays enter the eye through the cornea, a transparent dome-shaped tissue that is the eye's outermost layer. The cornea bends or refracts, light rays traveling to the pupil. The shape of the cornea determines how much of the light is bent and whether the image will be focused correctly on the retina at the back of the eye. Once the light has passed through both refraction layers, it converges into a single focal point onto a small area. This is where photoreceptors start transforming...
01:18Imaging Biological Samples with Optical Microscopy
Optical microscopy uses optic principles to provide detailed images of samples. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek designed the first compound optical microscope in the 17th century to visualize blood cells, bacteria, and yeast cells. In 1830, Joseph Jackson Lister created an essentially modern light microscope. The 20th century saw the development of microscopes with enhanced magnification and resolution.
In optical microscopy, the specimen to be viewed is placed on a glass slide and clipped on the stage...
In optical microscopy, the specimen to be viewed is placed on a glass slide and clipped on the stage...
01:19Managing Impressions
Impression management encompasses individuals' deliberate efforts to shape how others perceive them during social interactions. This behavior is often employed to conform to social norms, secure approval, or pursue specific goals. While it involves selective self-presentation, it is not necessarily deceptive; individuals frequently present authentic aspects of themselves that align with situational demands.Common strategies include:Ingratiation: where individuals use flattery or agreeableness...
01:05Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy
Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy or TIRF is an advanced microscopic technique used to visualize fluorophores in samples close to a solid surface with a higher refractive index, such as a glass coverslip. TIRF only allows fluorophores in proximity to the solid surface to be excited. When light from a medium with a lower refractive index (such as air) hits the glass coverslip at a critical angle, the light undergoes total internal reflection stead of passing through the glass.
01:16Properties of the z-Transform II
The property of Accumulation in signal processing is derived by analyzing the accumulated sum of a discrete-time signal and using the time-shifting property to determine its z-transform. This principle reveals that the z-transform of the summed signal is related to the z-transform of the original signal by a multiplicative factor.
Moreover, the convolution property indicates that the convolution of two signals in the time domain corresponds to the product of their z-transforms in the frequency...
Moreover, the convolution property indicates that the convolution of two signals in the time domain corresponds to the product of their z-transforms in the frequency...
01:02Flame Photometry: Overview
Flame photometry, also known as flame emission spectrometry, is a technique used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of elements present in a sample using a flame as the source of excitation energy. The concept of flame photometry was realized in the early 1860s by Kirchhoff and Bunsen, who discovered that specific elements emit characteristic radiation when excited in flames. The first instrument developed for this purpose was used to measure sodium (Na) in plant ash using a Bunsen...