IMAGE REPRESENTATION IN THE PRIMARY VISUAL CORTEX

本申请中描述的调查旨在将 视觉生理学和心理物理学的研究成果， 已知的信息处理原理，在此过程中， 确定这些原则在多大程度上是处理 感官输入 这种方法采用分析和计算 通过已建立的生理数据进行预测的技术。 部分视觉皮层是研究最充分的区域之一 这些研究得到了广泛的研究机构的补充， 心理物理实验 因此，个人的财产 神经元和视觉通道是建立良好的， 这些神经元在视觉皮层上的排列是已知的， 不断完善。 人们越来越关注 这些不同的神经元之间的相互作用，以及这些神经元之间的相互作用， 连接. 然而，谁的答案落后于这一切的问题 进步，为什么？ 这是直观地吸引人认为， 单个神经元，它们在皮层上的空间排列，以及它们的 交互都是为了在一个 最大化利用可用神经资源的方式。 等 资源将包括神经元的数量，它们的大小， 突触，以及它们之间连接的长度。 这 应用程序继续工作，定量开发和测试这些 理念的 到目前为止，这种类型的工作已经揭示了有多少红衣主教 视觉神经元的特性及其在皮层上的排列 当突触是神经信息的基本单位时， 处理. 本申请继续追求这些目标。 通过寻求对许多概念之间联系的解释， 视觉神经元的类型及其相互作用 连接. 假设这种连接允许视觉 系统在不断变化的视觉环境中继续优化自身， 这些相互作用产生的许多复杂现象 优化的结果。 这些研究的结果将用于指导 更复杂的神经信息处理模型， 适用于中枢神经系统的其他区域。 此外，本发明还提供了一种方法， 该材料提供了生物学和生物学之间的重要定量联系， 以及图像表示的合成方法。

The investigations described in this application are designed to link established results from visual physiology and psychophysics with well- known principles of information processing, and, in the process establish the extent that such principles underlie the processing of sensory inputs. This approach employs analytic and computational techniques whose predictions are tested by established physiologic data. Portions of the visual cortex are among the most well-studied regions of the brain, and such studies are complemented by extensive bodies of psychophysical experiments. Consequently, the properties of individual neurons and visual channels are well-established, and the characteristic arrangement of these neurons over the visual cortex is known with increasing refinement. There is growing focus on the connections between these different neurons, and the interactions mediated by these connections. However, the question whose answer lags behind all of this progress is, why? It is intuitively appealing to think that the properties of the individual neurons, their spatial arrangement over the cortex, and their interactions are all geared towards representing visual stimuli in a manner that maximizes the use of available neural resources. Such resources would include the number of neurons, the size of their synapses, and the length of the connections between them. This application continues work that quantitatively develops and tests these concepts. Thus far, work of this type has revealed how many of the cardinal properties of visual neurons and their arrangement over the cortex emerges when the synapse is the fundamental unit of neural information processing. The current application continues its pursuit of these concepts by seeking an explanation for the connections between the many types of visual neurons and the interactions ascribed to these connections. It is hypothesized that such connections permit the visual system to continue to optimize itself in a changing visual environment, and that many complex phenomena produced by these interactions are the consequence of the optimization. The results from these studies will be used to guide the development of more complex models of neural information processing, and may be applicable to other regions of the central nervous system. In addition, this material provides an important quantitative link between biologic and synthetic methods of image representation.