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Lec05 V1
Lec05 V1
Jonathan Pillow Perception (PSY 323), Fall 2009 The University of Texas at Austin
Figure 3.6 Sine wave gratings illustrating low (a), medium (b), and high (c) spatial frequencies
Visual Acuity: Spatial frequency: The number of cycles of a grating per unit of visual angle (usually specified in degrees) Another way to think of spatial frequency: # of times a pattern repeats per unit length
Visual Acuity: Why sine gratings? Patterns of stripes with fuzzy boundaries are quite common The edge of any object produces a single stripe, often blurred by a shadow, in the retinal image The visual system breaks down images into a vast number of components; each is a sine wave grating with a particular spatial frequency
The contrast sensitivity function Human contrast sensitivity illustration of this sensitivity
Retinal Ganglion Cells and Stripes The response (right) of a ganglion cell to gratings of different frequencies
Retinal Ganglion Cells and Stripes Not only is the spatial frequency important, but so is the phase
The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus We have two lateral geniculate nuclei (LGNs): This is where axons of retinal ganglion cells synapse Ipsilateral: Referring to the same side of the body (or brain) Contralateral: Referring to the opposite side of the body (or brain)
Primary Visual Cortex Striate cortex: Also known as primary visual cortex, or V1 Primary visual cortex = first place in cortex where visual information is processed
(Previous two stages: retina and LGN are pre-cortical)
found in retina and LGN are replaced with elongated stripe receptive fields in cortex cells!
1. Edge detection
The role of V1 is to detect edges not obvious that this is a good way to process images led to many frustrated projects in computer vision
Summation of two
spatial sine waves idea that each spatial frequency comprises a channel
Original
High Frequencies
Low Frequencies
Nice idea, elegant mathematical theory more correct than edge detection hypothesis but incorrect--neurons respond to broad range of frequencies
(more on this in Chap 4!)
Topographical mapping:
! Nearby parts of visual space are represented at nearby anatomical locations in V1
Cortical magnification:
! Dramatic scaling of representation from different parts of visual field ! The amount of cortex devoted to processing the fovea is proportionally much more than the amount of cortex devoted to processing the periphery
Figure 3.14 The mapping of objects in space onto the visual cortex
contralateral
representation of visual eld (visual space represented in opposite hemisphere)
cortical
magnication (a slight misnomer) highly unequal representation of fovea vs. periphery
Striate Cortex
Visual acuity declines in an orderly fashion with eccentricitydistance from the fovea
Orientation tuning: neurons in V1 respond more to bars of certain orientations and less to others Response rate falls off with angular difference of bar from preferred orientation
Receptive Fields in Striate Cortex Cells in striate cortex respond best to bars of light rather than to spots of light simple cells: prefer bars of light, or prefer bars of dark complex cells: respond to both bars of light and dark
Receptive Fields in V1 How are the circular receptive fields in the LGN transformed into the elongated receptive fields in striate cortex?
Figure 3.17 Hubel and Wiesels model of how cortical simple cells get their orientation tuning
accomplish this transformation ! A cortical neuron that responds to oriented bars of light might receive input from several retinal ganglion cells ! If you string several retinal ganglion cells together, they can form an oriented bar ! A cell that is tuned to any orientation you want could be created in cortex by connecting it up with the appropriate retinal ganglion cells
Receptive Fields in Striate Cortex Many cortical cells respond especially well to: Moving lines Bars Edges Gratings Direction of motion
Receptive Fields in Striate Cortex Each LGN cell responds to one eye or the other, never to both Each striate cortex cell can respond to input from both eyes By the time information gets to primary visual cortex, inputs from both eyes have been combined Cortical neurons tend to have a preferred eye, however. They tend respond more vigorously to input from one eye or the other
Figure 3.20 A simple cell and a complex cell might both be tuned to the same orientation and stripe width, but might respond differently
Summary
V1 receptive elds orientation tuning spatial frequency sensitivity & tuning Fourier analysis Hubel & Weisel experiments simple vs. complex cells cortical magnication contralateral representation of visual eld