Abstract
We present a novel graphical user interface (GUI) that facilitates high-efficacy collection
of perceptual similarity opinions of a user in an effective and intuitive manner. The GUI
is based on a hybrid mechanism that combines ranking and rating. Namely, it presents a
base image for rating its similarity to seven peripheral images that are displayed
simultaneously following a circular layout. The user is asked to report the base image’s
pairwise similarity to each peripheral image on a fixed scale while preserving the relative
ranking among all peripheral images. The collected data are then used to predict the
user’s subjective opinions regarding the perceptual similarity of images. We tested this
new approach against two methods commonly used in perceptual similarity studies: (1) a
ranking method that presents triplets of images for selecting the image pair with the
highest internal similarity and (2) a rating method that presents pairs of images for rating
their relative similarity on a fixed scale. We aimed to determine which data collection
method was the most time efficient and effective for predicting a user’s perceptual
opinions regarding the similarity of mammographic masses. Our study was conducted
with eight individuals. By using the proposed GUI, we were able to derive individual user
profiles that were 41.4% to 46.9% more accurate than those derived with the other two
data collection GUIs. The accuracy improvement was statistically significant.
