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The Formation of Cooperative Cell Assemblies in the Visual Cortex

  • Chapter
Neuronal Cooperativity

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Synergetics ((SSSYN,volume 49))

Abstract

The retinal image of a visual scene consists of a two-dimensional continuous distribution of grey levels. In order to identify particular figures or objects it needs to be determined which of the local luminance gradients result from particular objects and which are generated from the embedding background. Some grouping must be performed in order to associate these luminance distributions with the contours of a single object, to segregate signals from objects with overlapping contours from each other and from the signals generated by the background. These operations are commonly addressed as scene segmentation or figure-ground segregation. Because most of them are usually carried out subconsciously and do not require directing selective attention to particular features of the scene, these operations are called “preattentive visual processes” or “early visual processes” (for reviews and examples see Julesz 1971; Marr 1976; Treisman 1986; Ramachandran 1988).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Deutschordenstrasse 46, D-6000, Frankfurt a.M. 71, Germany

    W. Singer

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  1. W. Singer
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  1. Abteilung Neurologie und Neurophysiologie, Klinikum der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Hansastraße 9, 7800, Freiburg, Fed. Rep. of Germany

    Jürgen Krüger

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© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Singer, W. (1991). The Formation of Cooperative Cell Assemblies in the Visual Cortex. In: Krüger, J. (eds) Neuronal Cooperativity. Springer Series in Synergetics, vol 49. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84301-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84301-3_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-84303-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-84301-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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