Foveation by a pulse-coupled neural network

Humans do not stare at an image, they foveate. Their eyes move about points of interest within the image collecting clues as to the content of the image. Object shape is one of the driving forces of foveation. These foveation points are generally corners and, to a lesser extent, the edges. The pulse-coupled neural network (PCNN) has the inherent ability to segment an image. The corners and edges of the PCNN segments are similar to the foveation points. Thus, it is a natural extension of PCNN technology to use it as a foveation engine. This paper will present theory and examples of foveation through the use of a PCNN, and it will also demonstrate that it can be quite useful in image recognition.