This text is concerned with a probabilistic approach to image analysis
as initiated by U. GRENANDER, D. and S. GEMAN, B.R. HUNT and many
others, and developed and popularized by D. and S. GEMAN in a paper from
1984. It formally adopts the Bayesian paradigm and therefore is referred
to as 'Bayesian Image Analysis'. There has been considerable and still
growing interest in prior models and, in particular, in discrete Markov
random field methods. Whereas image analysis is replete with ad hoc
techniques, Bayesian image analysis provides a general framework
encompassing various problems from imaging. Among those are such
'classical' applications like restoration, edge detection, texture
discrimination, motion analysis and tomographic reconstruction. The
subject is rapidly developing and in the near future is likely to deal
with high-level applications like object recognition. Fascinating
experiments by Y. CHOW, U. GRENANDER and D.M. KEENAN (1987), (1990)
strongly support this belief.