Studies in Concealing Effect of Camouflage Patterns used for Clothing

—Visibility Evaluation by Visual Reaction Time—

Abstract

In order to evaluate the effect of camouflage patterns on the visibility, the stimulus on a CRT display was designed and the experiment to determine the visibility of the patterns was performed by using a personal computer system. The stimulus consisted of nine small squares arrayed in a large square. The central small square was used to display at random a numerical figure from one to eight. Other peripheral eight small squares were selection parts on which the forest landscape was displayed with different number of small dots. The small dots were used as the simplified pattern of clothing models and were painted in plain color or a certain camouflage pattern.
The experimental subjects were asked to select the small square, by the mouse operation as quickly as possible, that contains the dots of the same number as the numerical figure displayed on the central small square. The reaction times counted from the indications of numerical figure displayed on the central square to the correct selection by a subject were determined.
The results obtained were as follows. 1) The magnitude of the reaction time demonstrated well the effect of camouflage patterns on the visibility. 2) The visibility of the dots was affected by the color or pattern of the dots. 3) The visibility might possibly depend on the types of the background.