Keywords
receptive field, extra-classical, surround, circuit, context
Abstract
One of the major goals in neuroscience is to understand how the cortex processes information. A substantial effort has thus gone into mapping classical receptive fields (cRF) across areas of the visual cortex and characterizing input-output relationships through linear-nonlinear response functions. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in mapping the extra-classical receptive field (extra-cRF) as well, by using contextual stimuli. The extra-cRF is a region outside the cRF that modulates a cell’s response but that is incapable of driving it on its own. However, existing models typically focus on one particular visual modality (form, motion, disparity or color), and do not offer a coherent computational role for the extra-cRF. Meanwhile, because of the sheer diversity of contextual effects, we still lack a single model that is consistent with the known anatomy and physiology of the visual cortex.
Here, we present an integrated computational model of early vision that comprehensively describes neural responses in the primary visual cortex across modalities (form, motion, disparity and color). The basic circuit combines “untuned” recurrent connections within the cRF with “tuned” recurrent interactions in the extra-cRF. The circuit offers a characterization of disparate contextual phenomena across visual modalities as general induction phenomena. We show that the resulting circuit seems sufficient to capture the extent of psychophysical data on color constancy – offering a possible computational-level justification for the observed center-surround interactions.
Start Date
12-5-2016 9:00 AM
End Date
12-5-2016 9:25 AM
Included in
Towards a Unified Model of Classical and Extra-Classical Receptive Fields
One of the major goals in neuroscience is to understand how the cortex processes information. A substantial effort has thus gone into mapping classical receptive fields (cRF) across areas of the visual cortex and characterizing input-output relationships through linear-nonlinear response functions. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in mapping the extra-classical receptive field (extra-cRF) as well, by using contextual stimuli. The extra-cRF is a region outside the cRF that modulates a cell’s response but that is incapable of driving it on its own. However, existing models typically focus on one particular visual modality (form, motion, disparity or color), and do not offer a coherent computational role for the extra-cRF. Meanwhile, because of the sheer diversity of contextual effects, we still lack a single model that is consistent with the known anatomy and physiology of the visual cortex.
Here, we present an integrated computational model of early vision that comprehensively describes neural responses in the primary visual cortex across modalities (form, motion, disparity and color). The basic circuit combines “untuned” recurrent connections within the cRF with “tuned” recurrent interactions in the extra-cRF. The circuit offers a characterization of disparate contextual phenomena across visual modalities as general induction phenomena. We show that the resulting circuit seems sufficient to capture the extent of psychophysical data on color constancy – offering a possible computational-level justification for the observed center-surround interactions.