Visual sensitivity to two-dimensional spatial phase.

We investigate some limits to phase processing in the human visual system with two-dimensional textured images. Results indicate that, although phase sensitivity increases with contrast and energy components of the image, observers cannot discriminate between images and their 45 degrees phase-quantized versions under brief exposure and lower- (less than or equal to 30%) contrast conditions. These results seem to be frequency independent although modulated by different energy levels at each two-dimensional frequency band. Finally, we have analyzed some past texture-discrimination results that occur under identical amplitude-spectra conditions. Here also phase-quantization differences seem to constitute an adequate explanation of discrimination performance.