Neural Dynamics of Attentive Object Recognition and Scene Understanding

Explore the neural dynamics of visual perception and decision-making in this comprehensive lecture by Stephen Grossberg from Boston University. Delve into three recent models explaining how the brain visually understands the world, focusing on hierarchical and parallel processes within the What and Where cortical streams. Examine the ARTSCAN model, which addresses object recognition, view-invariant category learning, and the coordination of object and spatial attention. Investigate the ARTSCENE model, which demonstrates efficient scene classification using multiple spatial scales for gist and texture analysis. Study the MODE model, which simulates decision-making processes in response to ambiguous visual motion stimuli. Gain insights into how the brain accumulates information across multiple processing stages, challenging traditional models of vision and raising questions about functional brain units selected by evolution.