title: A self-organizing model of "color blob" formation.
abstract: This paper explores the possibility that the formation of color blobs in primate striate cortex can be partly explained through the process of activity-based self-organization. We present a simulation of a highly simplified model of visual processing along the parvocellular pathway, that combines precortical color processing, excitatory and inhibitory cortical interactions, and Hebbian learning. The model self-organizes in response to natural color images and develops islands of unoriented, color-selective cells within a sea of contrast-sensitive, orientation-selective cells. By way of understanding this topography, a principal component analysis of the color inputs presented to the network reveals that the optimal linear coding of these inputs keeps color information and contrast information separate.
authors.affiliation: School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, UK.
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Barrow
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bray
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Budd
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D011323:Primates / Q000502:physiology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000201:enzymology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV