A statistical model for the visualisation of changes in the count density on radioisotope scanning displays

Abstract

A simple descriptive model of the mental processes involved in the visualisation of count density variations in radioisotope scanning displays is proposed in which an area of interest is compared with the regions around it. From this a new approach is developed by which the visual significance of an area is related to the statistical significance of the area from its surroundings. This leads to the determination of the statistically optimum sampling area for a Gaussian profiled image. Application of the method explains some experimental work on the visual perception of noise limited images under practical scanning conditions.