Integrating top-down signals in face and object processing

将自上而下的信号集成到面部和物体处理中

• 批准号: 356071-2013
• 负责人: Hoffman, Kari
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: York University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=572735
• 关键词: Integrating; top; down; signals; face

When we talk about "seeing the world", we implicitly refer to the people and things associated with the places where we expect to find them. We may take these abilities for granted, but engineers have yet to build a synthetic visual system that performs as accurately, with the level of speed and efficiency as our visual system. My research is devoted to understanding how the brain codes faces and objects. One unresolved question is how the activity of brain cells and their interactions lead to our visual aptitudes. One secret to our visual system's success may be our use of two self-generated signals to enhance face and object processing: (i) our eye movements that actively scan the environment, and (ii) memory from previous experiences. We will record the activity of groups of brain cells as faces and objects are detected or discriminated. We will measure the changes in the rate of action potentials and how the changes are distributed across cells, as well as whether action potentials 'march to the beat' of local neural rhythms, or act independently of them. Furthermore, (i) we will determine how this code is influenced by the dynamics of active search, which places new visual information on the retina ~3-5 times per second. "On your mark, get set"...reacting to "Go!" is much faster when you're the one calling the shot. Similarly, could the brain use the eye movement it generated to help prepare the visual system for incoming signals from the retina? (ii) Another way to prepare or shape brain activity is through memory. We find objects in clutter better when it's our familiar clutter than when we stumble upon someone else's, and we have an easier time recognizing a familiar friend than a new acquaintance. Experience can have a dramatic impact on our perceptual abilities. We will study the influence of eye movements and of past experience on neural activity in cells that respond to faces or objects. Understanding how faces and objects are coded in the brain, and if it may be shaped for better performance, is a fundamental question that could change our views of brain processing in general, and inform artificial systems that seek to emulate our remarkable ability to "see the world".

当我们谈到“看世界”时，我们含蓄地指的是与我们期望找到它们的地方相关的人和事。我们可能认为这些能力是理所当然的，但工程师们还没有构建出一种合成视觉系统，它能像我们的视觉系统一样精确、快速和高效。我的研究致力于理解大脑是如何对面孔和物体进行编码的。一个尚未解决的问题是，脑细胞的活动及其相互作用是如何导致我们的视觉能力的。我们的视觉系统成功的一个秘密可能是我们使用两种自我产生的信号来增强面部和物体的处理：(i)我们积极扫描环境的眼球运动，（ii）以前经验的记忆。