Some aspects of amacrine neuron simulation for motion detection

As it is known, there are five types of neurons in the mammalian retinal layer allowing the detection of several important characteristics of the visual image impinging onto the visual system, namely, photoreceptors, horizontal cells, amacrine, bipolar and ganglion cells. And it is a well known fact too, that the amacrine neuron architecture allows a first detection for objects motion, being the most important retinal cell to this function. We have already studied and simulated the Dowling retina model and we have verified that many complex processes in visual detection is performed with the basis of the amacrine cell synaptic connections. This work will show how this structure may be employed for motion detection

Image characterisation based on the mammalian visual cortex

A proposal for a model of the primary visual cortex is reported. It is structured with the basis of a simple unit cell able to perform fourteen pairs of different boolean functions corresponding to the two possible inputs. As a first step, a model of the retina is presented. Different types of responses, according to the different possibilities of interconnecting the building blocks, have been obtained. These responses constitute the basis for an initial configuration of the mammalian primary visual cortex. Some qualitative functions, as symmetry or size of an optical input, have been obtained. A proposal to extend this model to some higher functions, concludes the paper.