Masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.

A visual stimulus can be made invisible, i.e. masked, by the presentation of a second stimulus. In the sensory cortex, neural responses to a masked stimulus are suppressed, yet how this suppression comes about is still debated. Inhibitory models explain masking by asserting that the mask exerts an i...

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Main Authors: Hans Supèr, August Romeo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3290529?pdf=render
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spelling doaj-5ba8fd1b2f83406dbaab9f026b81f9a02020-11-25T01:46:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0172e3177310.1371/journal.pone.0031773Masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.Hans SupèrAugust RomeoA visual stimulus can be made invisible, i.e. masked, by the presentation of a second stimulus. In the sensory cortex, neural responses to a masked stimulus are suppressed, yet how this suppression comes about is still debated. Inhibitory models explain masking by asserting that the mask exerts an inhibitory influence on the responses of a neuron evoked by the target. However, other models argue that the masking interferes with recurrent or reentrant processing. Using computer modeling, we show that surround inhibition evoked by ON and OFF responses to the mask suppresses the responses to a briefly presented stimulus in forward and backward masking paradigms. Our model results resemble several previously described psychophysical and neurophysiological findings in perceptual masking experiments and are in line with earlier theoretical descriptions of masking. We suggest that precise spatiotemporal influence of surround inhibition is relevant for visual detection.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3290529?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Hans Supèr
August Romeo
spellingShingle Hans Supèr
August Romeo
Masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Hans Supèr
August Romeo
author_sort Hans Supèr
title Masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.
title_short Masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.
title_full Masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.
title_fullStr Masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.
title_full_unstemmed Masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.
title_sort masking of figure-ground texture and single targets by surround inhibition: a computational spiking model.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2012-01-01
description A visual stimulus can be made invisible, i.e. masked, by the presentation of a second stimulus. In the sensory cortex, neural responses to a masked stimulus are suppressed, yet how this suppression comes about is still debated. Inhibitory models explain masking by asserting that the mask exerts an inhibitory influence on the responses of a neuron evoked by the target. However, other models argue that the masking interferes with recurrent or reentrant processing. Using computer modeling, we show that surround inhibition evoked by ON and OFF responses to the mask suppresses the responses to a briefly presented stimulus in forward and backward masking paradigms. Our model results resemble several previously described psychophysical and neurophysiological findings in perceptual masking experiments and are in line with earlier theoretical descriptions of masking. We suggest that precise spatiotemporal influence of surround inhibition is relevant for visual detection.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3290529?pdf=render
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AT augustromeo maskingoffiguregroundtextureandsingletargetsbysurroundinhibitionacomputationalspikingmodel
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