Attentional Selection for Object Recognition - A Gentle Way

Abstract

Attentional selection of an object for recognition is often modeled using all-or-nothing switching of neuronal connection pathways from the attended region of the retinal input to the recognition units. However, there is little physiological evidence for such all-or-none modulation in early areas. We present a combined model for spatial attention and object recognition in which the recognition system monitors the entire visual field, but attentional modulation by as little as 20% at a high level is sufficient to recognize multiple objects. To determine the size and shape of the region to be modulated, a rough segmentation is performed, based on pre-attentive features already computed to guide attention. Testing with synthetic and natural stimuli demonstrates that our new approach to attentional selection for recognition yields encouraging results in addition to being biologically plausible.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA454969

Entities

People

  • Christof Koch
  • Dirk Walther
  • Laurent Itti
  • Maximilian Riesenhuber
  • Tomaso Poggio

Organizations

  • California Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Applied Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Computations
  • Computer Science
  • Computer Vision
  • Image Processing
  • Image Recognition
  • Image Segmentation
  • Inhibition
  • Intensity
  • Modulation
  • Object Recognition
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Recognition
  • Simulations

Readers

  • Applied Combinatorial Optimization and Logic Circuit Design.
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Vision Science/Vision Psychology/Cognitive Neuroscience.