Biomedical subjects

D J Fleet

Publications and source records attributed to D J Fleet.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

Linear filtering precedes nonlinear processing in early vision.

BACKGROUND: Nonlinearities play a significant role in early visual processing. They are central to the perception of spatial contrast variations, multiplicative transparencies and texture boundaries. This article concerns the stage of processing at which nonlinearities first become significant. RESULTS: Subjects were adapted to a high contrast sinusoidal grating followed by a brief presentation of a contrast modulated test (plaid) pattern. Thresholds for the detection of the contrast modulation (the beat) were measured. Results show that threshold elevation is greatest when the orientation and spatial frequency of the adapting grating are close to the principal Fourier frequency (the carrier) of the test pattern. Adaptation to sinewave-gratings near the frequency of the contrast modulation has relatively little effect. The data also show that the processing of contrast is frequency selective, with a peak tuning frequency near 0.4 cycles per degree. CONCLUSIONS: The data are consistent with a model in which the contrast beats are processed in a frequency-specific manner, after an initial stage of frequency-specific and orientation-specific linear filtering.

Models, Biological↗

PubMed1996

Neural encoding of binocular disparity: energy models, position shifts and phase shifts.

Neurophysiological data support two models for the disparity selectivity of binocular simple and complex cells in primary visual cortex. These involve binocular combinations of monocular receptive fields that are shifted in retinal position (the position-shift model) or in phase (the phase-shift model) between the two eyes. This article presents a formal description and analysis of a binocular energy model with these forms of disparity selectivity. We propose how one might measure the relative contributions of phase and position shifts in simple and complex cells. The analysis also reveals ambiguities in disparity encoding that are inherent in these model neurons, suggesting a need for a second stage of processing. We propose that linear pooling of the binocular responses across orientations and scales (spatial frequency) is capable of producing an unambiguous representation of disparity.

Depth Perception↗

PubMed1994

Computational analysis of non-Fourier motion.

Non-Fourier motion is now commonplace in research on visual motion perception, yet lacks a computational framework. This paper examines this issue based on the observation that many non-Fourier motion stimuli have a simple characterization in the frequency domain, in terms of oriented power distributions that lie along lines (or planes) that do not pass through the origin. This provides a unifying theoretical framework for a very diverse class of non-Fourier phenomena. It also allows us to examine some central issues concerning the computational nature of non-Fourier models, and naturally occurring sources of non-Fourier motion. For example, it is shown that the orientation of power in frequency domain corresponds to the velocity of a multiplicative envelope, and may arise as a restricted form of lighting effects, translucency or occlusion. We also show that both the location and orientation of spectral power may be extracted from the phase and amplitude output of band-pass filters, consonant with existing non-Fourier models.

Fourier Analysis↗

PubMed1985

Spatiotemporal inseparability in early visual processing.

We examine the implications of significant inseparable behaviour in centre-surround retinal cell types. From the form of a spatiotemporal centre-surround (CS) model which agrees qualitatively with physiological observations, we find that the sustained/transient dichotomy is a poor distinction for X-type/Y-type retinal ganglion cells since both exhibit inseparability. Static centre-surround models and spatiotemporal separable models are not valid for time-varying stimuli. Our results contradict the models for X- and Y-type ganglion cells proposed by Marr and Hildreth (1980) and Marr and Ullman (1981), and raise doubts about the physiological validity of Marr's zero-crossing theory. The CS filter is an attractive precursor to the extraction of 2-d motion information.

Animals↗