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The neural mechanism of visual contour integration

LI Ya^1,*, WANG Yong-Hui¹, LI Sheng^2,3,4,5

¹School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710062, China；²School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing 100871, China；³PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 100871, China；⁴Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Beijing 100871, China；⁵Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Abstract

The human visual system efficiently extracts local elements from cluttered backgrounds and integrates these elements into meaningful contour perception. This process is a critical step before object recognition, in which contours often play an important role in defining the shapes and borders of the to-be-recognized objects. However, the neural mechanism of the contour integration is still under debate. The investigation of the neural mechanism underlying contour integration could deepen our understanding of perceptual grouping in the human visual system and advance the development of the algorithms for image grouping and segmentation in computer vision. Here, we review two theoretical frameworks that were proposed over the past decades. The first framework is based on hardwired horizontal connection in primary visual cortex, while the second one emphasizes the role of recurrent connections within intra- and inter-areas. At the end of review, we also raise the unsolved issues that need to be addressed in future studies. 

Key words: perceptual grouping; feedback connection; recurrent processing; primary visual cortex (V1); transcranial magnetic stimulation

Received: 2018-05-31　　Accepted: 2018-08-29

Corresponding author: 李雅　　E-mail: yali@snnu.edu.cn

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2019.0003

Citing This Article：

LI Ya, WANG Yong-Hui, LI Sheng. The neural mechanism of visual contour integration. Acta Physiol Sin 2019; 71 (1): 45-52 (in Chinese with English abstract).