Mechanisms of contour integration in primary visual cortex
Abstract
The general hypothesis we set out to test is whether contour integration is computed by a cooperative array of visual cortical neurons that interact to achieve selective modulation of a unit's response. We studied global interactions psychophysically via detailed studies of relative position and orientation across a broad range of inter-element distance, inter-element orientation and extended the study to include local density. To study the effects of local behavior on long-range constraints, we controlled the orientation and spatial frequency bandwidth of stimuli to investigate how the response distribution within a hypercolumn could modulate integration across distance. For both the “local” and “global” studies, we generated detailed computational models that provided predictions that we tested using extracellular recording techniques in the cat primary visual cortex. This allowed us to focus on the whether the interactions observed psychophysically might in fact exist at the level of primary visual cortex and to determine the role, if any, that neurons within primary visual cortex play in integrating spatially discrete regions visual space. ^
Subject Area
Biology, Neuroscience|Engineering, Biomedical
Recommended Citation
John Scott Nafziger,
"Mechanisms of contour integration in primary visual cortex"
(January 1, 2001).
Dissertations available from ProQuest.
Paper AAI3003668.
http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3003668
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