Abstract
This study assesses the impact of display refresh rate on the
perception of dynamic visual stimuli in humans. A projection platform was
developed in that context, allowing control of the frame rate on a
trial-by-trial basis. Using this display, we introduce a series of
psychophysical experiments aimed to quantitatively assess objective
perceptual performance at different frame rates. Tasks that are often
implicitly performed when watching movies on a television set, or when
wearing a head mounted display, were chosen: speed discrimination, spatial
discrimination, and reading abilities, with stimuli undergoing horizontal
motion in a wide range of speeds (
$16-38\;\text{deg/s}$
). The results show that whatever the stimuli or the
task, performance is significantly better at high frame rate (HFR)
compared to 60 Hz, providing clear-cut evidence that low refresh rates
limit the ability to reliably analyze moving stimuli. These results extend
those of previous psychophysical experiments performed at low refresh
rates, further characterize genuine visual performance in humans and
provide an objective benchmarking methodology allowing to assess visual
performance with a variety of displays. Results indicate that for low
resolution displays, where increasing spatial resolution is not an option,
increasing frame rate could benefit motion perception. We discuss these
results and their implications with regards to current and emerging
categories of visual displays, such as head mounted displays.
© 2016 OAPP
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