Empirical tests for feature selection based on a psychological theory of character recognition

摘要

It is argued that machine algorithms based on feature detection promise the greatest chance for success in the recognition of isolated, unconstrained handprinted characters. In order to match human performance, the features used cannot be chosen in an arbitrary manner; they must have some psychological significance. A theory of characters based on functional attributes is reviewed, and three psychophysical tests are described for determining the psychological validity of any postulated attribute. The first test indicates if a particular attribute is involved in a particular letter, and the second and third tests investigate the commonality of an attribute among different letters.