creators_name: Würtz, Rolf P.
type: preprint
datestamp: 1998-08-05
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:00
metadata_visibility: show
title: Neural networks as a model for visual perception: what is lacking?
subjects: bio-ani-cog
subjects: cog-psy
subjects: comp-sci-complex-theory
subjects: comp-sci-mach-vis
subjects: comp-sci-neural-nets
subjects: neuro-mod
full_text_status: public
abstract: A central mystery of visual perception is the classical problem of invariant object recognition: Different appearances of an object can be perceived as ``the same'', despite, e.g., changes in position or illumination, distortions, or partial occlusion by other objects. This article reports on a recent email discussion over the question whether a neural network can learn the simplest of these invariances, i.e. generalize over the position of a pattern on the input layer, including the author's view on what ``learning shift-invariance'' could mean. That definition leaves the problem unsolved. A similar problem is the one of learning to detect symmetries present in an input pattern. It has been solved by a standard neural network requiring some 70000 input examples. Both leave some doubt if backpropagation learning is a realistic model for perceptual processes. Abandoning the view that a stimulus-response system showing the desired behavior must be learned from scratch, yields a radically different solution. Perception can be seen as an active process that rapidly converges from some initial state to an ordered state, which in itself codes for a percept. As an example, I will present a solution to the visual correspondence problem, which greatly alleviates both problems mentioned above.
date: 1998
date_type: published
refereed: TRUE
citation:   Würtz, Rolf P.  (1998) Neural networks as a model for visual perception: what is lacking?  [Preprint]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/507/2/rolf-cogsys98.ps