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Distributed sensory coding applied to simulations of iconic storage and metacontrast

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Abstract

If information is coded in the combination of activities of many neurons operating in parallel, then information present in a network can be defined by the correlation of present network activity with the activity which had been elicited by a stimulus in the past; a high correlation indicates the presence of the previously encoded stimulus. Information is distributed in the network because coding is dependent upon the activities of all cells. A model based on Hartline-Ratliff lateral inhibition with a time delay shows that lateral inhibition can distribute information across a parallel network, reduce output noise, and also briefly store information. With no changes in model parameters, and the use of a correlation measure for recognition, the model can stimulate psychophysical results in eleven variations of the metacontrast masking paradigm.

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  1. Psychology Board of Studies, University of California, 95064, Santa Cruz, California, U.S.A.

    Bruce Bridgeman

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  1. Bruce Bridgeman
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Bridgeman, B. Distributed sensory coding applied to simulations of iconic storage and metacontrast. Bltn Mathcal Biology 40, 605–623 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460733

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460733

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