RIA: A Self-Organizing Neural Network Model of The PrimaryVisual cortex

在一项关于哺乳动物新皮层侧连通性和动态过程的初步研究中，提出了一种新的皮层自组织模型LCSOFM （lateral Connected Self-Organizing Feature Map）。本研究的重点是LCSOFM作为初级视觉皮层的计算模型。主要的假设是，视觉皮层的横向连接调节了自组织和低级知觉现象所必需的合作和竞争。该假设将通过建立视觉皮层LCSOFM模型并通过模拟神经科学实验分析其行为来验证。LCSOFM模型允许在一个新的、比早期模型更基础的水平上对视觉皮层进行计算研究，并允许我们测试关于其结构和功能的几个新假设。基于前导研究，有理由相信该模型可以验证(1)自组织是否可以基于横向连接神经元之间的合作与竞争；(2)观察到的远程侧连接模式源于神经活动的相关性；(3)皮层的可塑性源于侧连接的重组；(4)倾斜错觉是由横向连接的视网膜定位图中的神经反应竞争引起的；(5)格式塔原理可以从视觉经验中提取并编码为横向连接；(6)通过横向连接的合作与竞争，结合锁相绑定，可负责将视觉输入分割成连贯的整体。//

In a pilot study motivated by recent results on the lateral connectivity and dynamic processes in the mammalian neocortex, a new model of coritcal self-organization called LCSOFM (Laterally Connected Self-Organizing Feature Map) was developed. This research focuses on LCSOFM as a computational model of the primary visual cortex. The main hypothesis is that the lateral connectivity in the visual cortex mediates cooperation and competition necessary for the self-organization and low-level perceptual phenomena. The hypothesis will be tested by building a LCSOFM model of the visual cortex and analyzing its behavior through simulated neuroscience experiments. The LCSOFM model permits computational study of the visual cortex at a new, more fundamental level than earlier models, and allows us to test several new hypotheses about its structure and function. Based on the pilot study, there is reason to believe that the model can verify whether (1) self-organization can be based on cooperation and competition among laterally connected neurons; (2) the observed patterns of long-range lateral connections arise from correlations in neural activity; (3) plasticity of the cortex results from reorganization of lateral connections; (4) tilt illusions arise from competition of neural responses in laterally connected retinotopic maps; (5) gestalt principles can be extracted from visual experience and encoded into lateral connections; and (6) cooperation and competition through lateral connection, combine with binding by phase-locking, can be responsible for segmentation of visual input into coherent wholes.//