Using gaze information to improve image difference metrics

We have used image difference metrics to measure the quality of a set of images to know how well they predict perceived image difference: We carried out a psychophysical experiment with 25 observers along with a recording of the observers gaze position. The image difference metrics used were CIELAB Delta E-ab, S-CIELAB, the hue angle algorithm, iCAM and SSIM. A frequency map from the eye tracker data was applied as a weighting to the image difference metrics. The results indicate an improvement in correlation between the predicted image difference and the perceived image difference.