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Published on: February 3, 2015
The Geometry of Visual Perception: Retinotopic and Non-retinotopic Representations in the Human Visual System
Haluk Oğmen1, Michael H Herzog
1Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Center for NeuroEngineering & Cognitive Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4005 USA (phone: 713-743-4428; fax: 713-743-4444.
Abstract:
Geometry is closely linked to visual perception; yet, very little is known about the geometry of visual processing beyond early retinotopic organization. We present a variety of perceptual phenomena showing that a retinotopic representation is neither sufficient nor necessary to support form perception. We discuss the popular "object files" concept as a candidate for non-retinotopic representations and, based on its shortcomings, suggest future directions for research using local manifold representations. We suggest that these manifolds are created by the emergence of dynamic reference-frames that result from motion segmentation. We also suggest that the metric of these manifolds is based on relative motion vectors.
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