CHAPTER 21 - Models of Simple and Complex Cells

Abstract

This chapter presents the basic receptive field properties of neurons in primary visual cortex. While simple cell receptive fields can be conceived as a fairly straightforward elaboration of the receptive fields encountered at earlier stages of the visual system, complex cells present genuinely different properties. Remarkably, it has been learned that a simple combination of linear and static nonlinear operations can account for much of the experimental data. The properties of visual neurons in area V1 have been studied in many laboratories. The models of simple cell temporal response properties allow carrying out analytical calculations, but are oversimplified. The temporal profiles of real neurons are typically skewed so that a time domain Gabor does not fit well. Further, the chapter explores a more realistic model based on Emerson et al.See DeAngelis et al.