A model of contour extraction including multiple scales, flexible inhibition and attention

A mathematical model of contextual integration and contour extraction in the primary visual cortex developed in a recent work [Ursino, M., & La Cara, G. E. (2004). A model of contextual interactions and contour detection in primary visual cortex. Neural Networks, 17, 719-735] has been significantly improved to include two fundamental additional aspects, i.e., multi-scale decomposition and attention. The model incorporates two independent paths for visual processing corresponding to two different scales. Attention from higher hierarchical levels works by modifying different properties of the network: by selecting the portion of the image to be scrutinized and the appropriate scale, by modulating the threshold of a gating mechanism, and by modifying the width and/or strength of lateral inhibition. Through computer simulations of real complex and noisy black-and-white images, we demonstrate that appropriate selection of the above factors allows accurate analysis of image contours at different levels, from global perception of the overall objects without details, down to a fine examination of minute particulars (such as the lips in a face or the fingers of a hand). Attentive reconfiguration of lateral inhibition plays a key role in the analysis of images at different detail levels.

[1]  T. Wiesel,et al.  Columnar specificity of intrinsic horizontal and corticocortical connections in cat visual cortex , 1989, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[2]  Arnaud Delorme,et al.  Feed-forward contour integration in primary visual cortex based on asynchronous spike propagation , 2001, Neurocomputing.

[3]  F. Sengpiel,et al.  Visual perception: Spotlight on the primary visual cortex , 1999, Current Biology.

[4]  Mauro Ursino,et al.  A model of contextual interactions and contour detection in primary visual cortex , 2004, Neural Networks.

[5]  João M. F. Rodrigues,et al.  Face Recognition by Cortical Multi-scale Line and Edge Representations , 2006, ICIAR.

[6]  Z Li,et al.  Contextual influences in V1 as a basis for pop out and asymmetry in visual search. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[7]  Jayanthi Sivaswamy,et al.  A Computational Model for Boundary Detection , 2006, ICVGIP.

[8]  A. Oliva,et al.  Flexible, Diagnosticity-Driven, Rather Than Fixed, Perceptually Determined Scale Selection in Scene and Face Recognition , 1997, Perception.

[9]  D. Somers,et al.  Functional MRI reveals spatially specific attentional modulation in human primary visual cortex. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[10]  John H. R. Maunsell,et al.  Attentional modulation of visual motion processing in cortical areas MT and MST , 1996, Nature.

[11]  S. Palmer.  Vision Science : Photons to Phenomenology , 1999 .

[12]  A. Thielscher,et al.  Neural mechanisms of cortico–cortical interaction in texture boundary detection: a modeling approach , 2003, Neuroscience.

[13]  Alessandro Neri,et al.  Contour Detection by Multiresolution Surround Inhibition , 2006, 2006 International Conference on Image Processing.

[14]  Scott D Slotnick,et al.  Darkness beyond the light: attentional inhibition surrounding the classic spotlight , 2002, Neuroreport.

[15]  C. Gilbert,et al.  Attention and Perceptual Learning Modulate Contextual Influences on Visual Perception , 1998, Neuron.

[16]  Carole Peyrin,et al.  Hemispheric specialization for spatial frequency processing in the analysis of natural scenes , 2003, Brain and Cognition.

[17]  Marisa Carrasco,et al.  Attention improves or impairs visual performance by enhancing spatial resolution , 1998, Nature.

[18]  A. Treisman.  Perceptual grouping and attention in visual search for features and for objects. , 1982, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[19]  Jens Schwarzbach,et al.  Attentional inhibition of visual processing in human striate and extrastriate cortex , 2003, NeuroImage.

[20]  J. Movshon,et al.  Dynamics of Suppression in Macaque Primary Visual Cortex , 2006, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[21]  C. Gilbert,et al.  Attention and primary visual cortex. , 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[22]  H. Sato,et al.  Orientation tuning of surround suppression in lateral geniculate nucleus and primary visual cortex of cat , 2007, Neuroscience.

[23]  Matthew de Brecht,et al.  A neural network implementation of a saliency map model , 2006, Neural Networks.

[24]  P. Sajda,et al.  Extraclassical receptive field phenomena and short-range connectivity in V1. , 2005, Cerebral cortex.

[25]  T. J. Sullivan,et al.  A model of surround suppression through cortical feedback , 2006, Neural Networks.

[26]  João Rodrigues,et al.  Multi-scale keypoints in V1 and beyond: object segregation, scale selection, saliency maps and face detection. , 2006, Bio Systems.

[27]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain. , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[28]  J. Bullier.  Integrated model of visual processing , 2001, Brain Research Reviews.

[29]  C. Eriksen,et al.  Allocation of attention in the visual field. , 1985, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[30]  David J. Field,et al.  Contour integration by the human visual system: Evidence for a local “association field” , 1993, Vision Research.

[31]  Philippe G. Schyns,et al.  Retinotopic sensitisation to spatial scale: Evidence for flexible spatial frequency processing in scene perception , 2006, Vision Research.

[32]  F. Crick.  Function of the thalamic reticular complex: the searchlight hypothesis. , 1984, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[33]  J. Movshon,et al.  Selectivity and spatial distribution of signals from the receptive field surround in macaque V1 neurons. , 2002, Journal of neurophysiology.

[34]  J. R. Mounts.  Evidence for suppressive mechanisms in attentional selection: Feature singletons produce inhibitory surrounds , 2000, Perception & psychophysics.

[35]  J. Bullier,et al.  Reaching beyond the classical receptive field of V1 neurons: horizontal or feedback axons? , 2003, Journal of Physiology-Paris.

[36]  H. Ozeki,et al.  Relationship between Excitation and Inhibition Underlying Size Tuning and Contextual Response Modulation in the Cat Primary Visual Cortex , 2004, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[37]  W. D. Ross,et al.  Visual brain and visual perception: how does the cortex do perceptual grouping? , 1997, Trends in Neurosciences.

[38]  M. Bar.  A Cortical Mechanism for Triggering Top-Down Facilitation in Visual Object Recognition , 2003, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[39]  D. Hubel,et al.  Ferrier lecture - Functional architecture of macaque monkey visual cortex , 1977, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences.

[40]  D. V. van Essen,et al.  Neuronal responses to static texture patterns in area V1 of the alert macaque monkey. , 1992, Journal of neurophysiology.

[41]  C. Eriksen,et al.  Visual attention within and around the field of focal attention: A zoom lens model , 1986, Perception & psychophysics.

[42]  Christoph M. Michel,et al.  Hemispheric specialization of human inferior temporal cortex during coarse-to-fine and fine-to-coarse analysis of natural visual scenes , 2005, NeuroImage.

[43]  A. Oliva,et al.  Coarse Blobs or Fine Edges? Evidence That Information Diagnosticity Changes the Perception of Complex Visual Stimuli , 1997, Cognitive Psychology.

[44]  R. Desimone,et al.  Selective attention gates visual processing in the extrastriate cortex. , 1985, Science.

[45]  N. P. Bichot,et al.  Spatial selection via feature-driven inhibition of distractor locations , 1998, Perception & psychophysics.

[46]  Li Zhaoping,et al.  Border Ownership from Intracortical Interactions in Visual Area V2 , 2005, Neuron.

[47]  Zhaoping Li,et al.  Computational Design and Nonlinear Dynamics of a Recurrent Network Model of the Primary Visual Cortex , 2001, Neural Computation.

[48]  Nathalie Guyader,et al.  The coarse-to-fine hypothesis revisited: Evidence from neuro-computational modeling , 2005, Brain and Cognition.

[49]  T. Wiesel,et al.  Relationships between horizontal interactions and functional architecture in cat striate cortex as revealed by cross-correlation analysis , 1986, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[50]  Rolf P. Würtz,et al.  Corner detection in color images through a multiscale combination of end-stopped cortical cells , 2000, Image Vis. Comput..

[51]  E. DeYoe,et al.  A physiological correlate of the 'spotlight' of visual attention , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[52]  A. Angelucci,et al.  Contribution of feedforward, lateral and feedback connections to the classical receptive field center and extra-classical receptive field surround of primate V1 neurons. , 2006, Progress in brain research.

[53]  J Wilson,et al.  Spatial Frequency and Selective Attention to Local and Global Information , 1987, Perception.

[54]  L. Finkel,et al.  Extraction of perceptually salient contours by striate cortical networks , 1998, Vision Research.

[55]  Nicolas J. Kerscher,et al.  State-dependent receptive-field restructuring in the visual cortex , 1998, Nature.

[56]  William A. Simpson,et al.  Spatial frequency channels derived from individual differences , 2005, Vision Research.

[57]  Heiko Neumann,et al.  A computational model to link psychophysics and cortical cell activation patterns in human texture processing , 2007, Journal of Computational Neuroscience.

[58]  Nicolai Petkov,et al.  Contour detection based on nonclassical receptive field inhibition , 2003, IEEE Trans. Image Process..

[59]  S. Yantis,et al.  Transient neural activity in human parietal cortex during spatial attention shifts , 2002, Nature Neuroscience.

[60]  C. Gilbert,et al.  Spatial distribution of contextual interactions in primary visual cortex and in visual perception. , 2000, Journal of neurophysiology.

[61]  J. Nelson,et al.  Intracortical facilitation among co-oriented, co-axially aligned simple cells in cat striate cortex , 2004, Experimental Brain Research.

[62]  A. Dale,et al.  Functional Analysis of V3A and Related Areas in Human Visual Cortex , 1997, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[63]  D. LaBerge.  Spatial extent of attention to letters and words. , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[64]  D R Badcock,et al.  Low-Frequency Filtering and the Processing of Local—Global Stimuli , 1990, Perception.

[65]  M. Ursino,et al.  Travelling waves and EEG patterns during epileptic seizure: analysis with an integrate-and-fire neural network. , 2006, Journal of theoretical biology.

[66]  E. Rolls,et al.  A Neurodynamical cortical model of visual attention and invariant object recognition , 2004, Vision Research.

[67]  C. Gilbert,et al.  Improvement in visual sensitivity by changes in local context: Parallel studies in human observers and in V1 of alert monkeys , 1995, Neuron.

[68]  Ennio Mingolla,et al.  Neural dynamics of perceptual grouping: Textures, boundaries, and emergent segmentations , 1985 .

[69]  J. B. Levitt,et al.  Circuits for Local and Global Signal Integration in Primary Visual Cortex , 2002, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[70]  U. Castiello,et al.  Size of the attentional focus and efficiency of processing. , 1990, Acta psychologica.

[71]  Stephen Grossberg,et al.  Fast synchronization of perceptual grouping in laminar visual cortical circuits , 2004, Neural Networks.

[72]  Eileen Kowler,et al.  Attentional interference at small spatial separations , 1999, Vision Research.

[73]  K. Obermayer,et al.  The Role of Feedback in Shaping the Extra-Classical Receptive Field of Cortical Neurons: A Recurrent Network Model , 2006, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[74]  C. Gilbert,et al.  Attention Modulates Contextual Influences in the Primary Visual Cortex of Alert Monkeys , 1999, Neuron.

[75]  J. Lund,et al.  Intrinsic laminar lattice connections in primate visual cortex , 1983, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[76]  R. L. de Valois,et al.  Relationship between spatial-frequency and orientation tuning of striate-cortex cells. , 1985, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics and image science.

[77]  Chris J. Tinsley,et al.  Gain control from beyond the classical receptive field in primate primary visual cortex , 2003, Visual Neuroscience.

[78]  João M. F. Rodrigues,et al.  Visual Cortex Frontend: Integrating Lines, Edges, Keypoints, and Disparity , 2004, ICIAR.

[79]  J. Allman,et al.  Stimulus specific responses from beyond the classical receptive field: neurophysiological mechanisms for local-global comparisons in visual neurons. , 1985, Annual review of neuroscience.

[80]  Zhaoping Li,et al.  A Neural Model of Contour Integration in the Primary Visual Cortex , 1998, Neural Computation.

[81]  T. J. Sullivan,et al.  Homeostatic synaptic scaling in self-organizing maps , 2006, Neural Networks.

[82]  J. Duncan.  Selective attention and the organization of visual information , 1984 .

[83]  D. Pelli,et al.  The role of spatial frequency channels in letter identification , 2002, Vision Research.