Modeling Development and Perceptual Phenomena in the Visual Cortex

尽管在实验上对视皮层的发育和功能的了解已经取得了很大的进展，但确切的机制仍然没有完全了解。 随着并行超级计算机的出现，在过去几年中，它已经成为可行的测试理论，这些机制在详细的计算模拟。在PI之前的项目中，开发了初级视觉皮层的模型，该模型显示了观察到的感受野，柱状组织和横向连接如何通过输入驱动的Hebbian自组织产生。 本项目从四个方面继续研究：（1）将自组织模型扩展到视觉表征的层次结构，考虑来自更高层次视觉处理的反馈。(2)内部模式发生器包括在模型中，并验证了对小鸡印迹和婴儿面部识别的发展数据的假设，他们实施遗传控制的自组织结构。(3)假设视错觉和后效发生的适应系统中的横向相互作用的副作用进行了测试计算。 (4)知觉分组发生的假设，基于同步介导的横向和反馈连接进行了测试，验证了格式塔现象出现自组织的相互作用。 该项目提供了强有力的计算支持的想法，即视觉皮层是一个不断适应的循环结构，以及知觉现象，如人脸识别，错觉和分组是其新兴的。effects.http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/nn/pages/research/selforg.html

Although much progress has been made in understanding the development and function of the visual cortex experimentally, the exact mechanisms are still not completely understood. With the advent of parallel supercomputers in the past few years, it has become viable to test theories about these mechanisms in detailed computational simulations. In the PIs previous project, a model of the primary visual cortex was developed that showed how the observed receptive fields, columnar organization, and lateral connectivity can arise through input-driven Hebbian self-organization. The current project continues the research in four directions: (1) The self-organizing model is extended to a hierarchy of visual representations, taking into account feedback from higher levels of visual processing. (2) Internal pattern generators are included in the model and the hypothesis that they implement genetic control over the self-organized structures is verified against data on chick imprinting and the development of face recognition in infants. (3) The hypothesis that visual illusions and aftereffects occur as a side effect of the adapting lateral interactions in the system is tested computationally. (4) The hypothesis that perceptual grouping occurs based on synchronization mediated by the lateral and feedback connections is tested, verifying that Gestalt phenomena emerge from self-organized interactions. The project lends strong computational support to the idea that the visual cortex is a continuously-adapting recurrent structure, and that perceptual phenomena such as face recognition, illusions, and grouping are its emergent effects.http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/nn/pages/research/selforg.html