0000000000062215
AUTHOR
W. V. Seelen
Analysis of neuronal networks in the visual system of the cat using statistical signals--simple and complex cells. Part II.
Superimposing additively a two-dimensional noise process to deterministic input signals (bars) the neurons of area 17 show a class-specific reaction for the task of signal extraction. Moving both parts of the signals simultaneously and varying the signal to noise ratio (S/N) the simple cells achieve the same performance as resulted from the psychophysical experiment. Type I complex cells extract moving deterministic signals (i.e. bars) from the stationary noise, whereas in the answers of Type II complex cells the statistical parts of the signals predominate. Considering the different cell types each as a series of a linear and a nonlinear system one obtains the cell specific space-time freq…
On the interpretation of optical illusions.
If excited by stimuli adjacent in space and time, the optical system frequently perceives illusions in the form of apparent movements. These effects may be attributed to the dynamic properties of the retinal nerve nets. On the basis of a specific psychophysical experiment the mechanism underlying the generation of optical illusions is interpreted by the methods of systems theory and its use in systems analysis is discussed. It is shown that for the perception of apparent movements the transit times of the signals in the dendrites are particularly important.
Neurobiologie und System-Theorie eines visuellen Muster-Erkennungsmechanismus bei Kröten
Quantitative behavioral experiments have shown that the toad uses mainly two types of gestalt information in prey/enemy discrimination: pattern extension in the direction of movement promotes, in general, the signal value prey, while extension perpendicular to the direction of movement promotes that of enemy. Registrations from single fibers and single cells at different stages on the visual path showed that the object extension perpendicular to the direction of movement is chiefly analysed by means of the retinal and thalamus pretectal nerve nets, whereas the extension in the direction of movement is analysed mostly by certain tectal nerve nets. Further neurobiological findings indicated t…
On the classification of visual patterns: systems analysis using detection experiments.
Behavioral experiments are indispensable for the analysis of biological systems for cognition and recognition. When these are carried out as detection experiments three types of description can be used for the problem of visual pattern recognition which allow conclusions to be drawn on the operating function of the system. Provided that the signals to be recognized have additive noise superimposed on them, system description is possible: 1. on the basis on the probabilities of recognition and of mix-up,--2. through the analysis of the transformation of distribution densities of the noise,--3. by means of the measurable distances of the patterns from each other in feature space.-The analysis…
On the analysis of the cat's pattern recognition system
The objective of the paper is to determine in abstract terms the algorithms used by the cat detecting simple patterns and to quantify the contributions of the visual areas 17, 18, 19 for this task. The data incorporated in the algorithm are collected from behavioral experiments where the animals had to distinguish between two patterns. The patterns were superimposed with gaussian noise and the detection probability was measured. The resulting model describes pattern recognition in two steps: first extraction of features and second classification. The test of the validity of the model system was to predict the outcome of similar experiments but with different patterns. With the help of the m…
Analysis of neuronal networks in the visual system of the cat using statistical signals
If the input signals of the visual system in the cat are statistical patterns in space and time, a complete system analysis can be carried out. What counts here as a system are the neuronal networks between retina and recording site. In the case of linearity, one obtains the temporal impulse response functions at every point in the receptive field with the aid of correlation methods. The measuring time is about one minute. Some aspects of the procedure are explained in terms of examples. The method of measurement also makes it possible to determine the characteristic function of the system in time and space between different recording sites within the cortex. It is possible to specialize th…