eyeknown

Eyeknown is a neologism used in visual cognition and human-computer interaction to denote a perceptual property of a scene or image: the extent to which a visual element is known to an observer based on immediate perception rather than conscious inference. Elements with high eyeknown are detected rapidly and with high confidence, whereas low eyeknown items may require longer inspection or context to identify.

Definition and scope: Eyeknown combines perceptual salience, semantic familiarity, and contextual cues. It is not a static attribute of the image alone; it depends on the observer's prior knowledge, training, and the viewing task. In practice, eyeknown is assessed through experiments that measure gaze metrics, reaction times, and accuracy in recognition tasks.

Measurement: Common methods include eye-tracking to record fixation duration and saccade patterns on features, reaction time to identify objects or attributes, and confidence ratings in recognition tasks. Aggregated across observers, eyeknown can be summarized as a score reflecting rapid, confident recognition across a scene.

Applications: Eyeknown is used in UX design to optimize layouts for quick recognition, in advertising to ensure key elements draw attention, and in computer vision benchmarks to evaluate feature saliency and recognizability. It is also discussed in accessibility research as a proxy for readability and legibility under varying display conditions.

Limitations and critique: eyeknown is context-dependent and subjective, influenced by culture, task demands, display environment, and individual experience. It should be used alongside other metrics rather than as a sole measure of perceptual quality. The term remains informal and not universally standardized.