Visual Scene Statistics

Visual scene statistics refers to the study of the regular patterns that recur in visual images and the random fluctuations that perturb these patterns. For the purpose of this entry, “statistics” simply refers to a way of describing a phenomenon that accounts for both those aspects that we can be sure about as well as those aspects that are beyond our ken. This is not a new idea. As long as people have left written records they have appreciated the fact that the world around us contains things that are generally predictable but at the same time capable of surprising us. The sun always rises, but a given day is sunny or not according to its whim.

We have long known that major features of perceptual ...