Seeing Patterns in the Noise

Eero P Simoncelli

Published in:
Trends in Cognitive Science
vol. 7, num. 2, pp. 51-53, Feb 2003.
© Elsevier Science Ltd.

How do observers detect the presence of objects or features in visual images? Stochastic stimuli (for example, white noise) have become popular choices for providing a linear characterization of early sensory mechanisms. A recent paper by Neri and Heeger takes this type of methodology a step further, and succeeds in isolating and characterizing non-linear mechanisms responsible for the detection and identification of a specific visual target.
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