Computational
Neuroscience: Trends in Research,
1997, pp. 553-560.
Cortical
Synchronization Mechanism for "Pop-Out" of Salient Image Contours
Shih-Cheng
Yen and Leif H. Finkel
Department
of Bioengineering and
Institute of Neurological Sciences
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104, U. S. A.
syen@neuroengineering.upenn.edu
leif@neuroengineering.upenn.edu
Abstract
We present a model based on long-range intra-cortical connections which computes
the salience of contours in a visual scene. The model accounts for a number
of psychophysical and physiological results on contour salience, and provides
a mechanism for several of the Gestalt laws of perceptual organization. In the
model, cells lying on smooth contours facilitate each other, and strongly facilitated
cells enter a "bursting" model. Horizontal connections allow bursting
cells to synchronize, and perceptual salience is defined by the level of synchronized
activity. In particular, we propose that the intrinsic properties of synchronization
account for the increased salience of smooth, closed contours.
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