Cortically plausible inverse problem method applied to complex perceptual and planning tasks

The commonality of cortical architecture in perceptual, motor and higher cognitive areas of the brain suggests that one or just a few basic computational mechanisms underlie a variety of seemingly unrelated abilities. The map-seeking circuit (MSC) is a computational mechanism with plausible neuronal implementations which efficiently solves inverse transformation-discovery problems of the dimensionality found in vision, inverse kinematics, route-planning and other "brain-solvable" natural tasks. As in the brain, the cooperative interaction of MSCs operating in different domains allows efficient and robust solution to problem such as recognition of articulated objects. The algorithmic versions of MSC benefit from the same combinatorial efficiencies as the neuronal versions, making it a practical method for target recognition and other defense and security tasks. Several areas of application MSC are demonstrated.