Self-Organization of Steerable Topographic Mappings as Basis for Translation Invariance

One way to handle the perception of images that change in position (or size, orientation or deformation) is to invoke rapidly changing fiber projections to project images into a fixed format in a higher cortical area. We propose here a model for the ontogenesis of the necessary control structures. For simplicity we limit ourselves to fiber projections between two one-dimensional chains of units. Our system is a direct extension of a mathematical model [1] for the ontogenesis of retinotopy. Our computer experiments are guided by stability analysis and show the establishment of multiple topographic mappings implementing different translations, each projection associated with a single control unit. The model relies on neural signals with appropriate correlation structure, signals that can be generated by the network as spontaneous noise, so that the proposed mechanism could act prenatally.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: ICANN
• Authors: Junmei Zhu, Urs Bergmann, Christoph von der Malsburg
• Keywords: Fiber Projections, ICANN 2010, Necessary Control Structures, Neural Networks, Ontogenesis