Image quality assessment based on a human visual system model

In this work we describe the Image Fidelity Assessor (IFA), a set of psychophysical experiments that form its basis, and a method for evaluating the accuracy of the IFA. The IFA is a visual model that assesses perceived image fidelity. A set of contrast discrimination experiments that use stimuli matching the characteristics of receptive field profiles of simple cells in the visual cortex serve as the basis for the model. The structure of the model makes it possible to directly apply the results of the contrast discrimination experiments to the task of perceived image fidelity assessment. We conclude by proposing a psychophysical validation method for perceived image fidelity measures such as the IFA. The psychophysical validation method operates on complex images, retains spatial localization, and seeks to reduce the effects of response bias. Results from the psychophysical validation experiments suggest that the IFA may be nearly as effective at image fidelity assessment as humans for a wide range of image contents and distortion types