scholarly journals Gravitational models explain shifts on human visual attention

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Zanca ◽  
Marco Gori ◽  
Stefano Melacci ◽  
Alessandra Rufa
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Saliency Map ◽  
Feature Maps ◽  
Single Feature ◽  
Single Location ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Take All

Abstract Visual attention refers to the human brain’s ability to select relevant sensory information for preferential processing, improving performance in visual and cognitive tasks. It proceeds in two phases. One in which visual feature maps are acquired and processed in parallel. Another where the information from these maps is merged in order to select a single location to be attended for further and more complex computations and reasoning. Its computational description is challenging, especially if the temporal dynamics of the process are taken into account. Numerous methods to estimate saliency have been proposed in the last 3 decades. They achieve almost perfect performance in estimating saliency at the pixel level, but the way they generate shifts in visual attention fully depends on winner-take-all (WTA) circuitry. WTA is implemented by the biological hardware in order to select a location with maximum saliency, towards which to direct overt attention. In this paper we propose a gravitational model to describe the attentional shifts. Every single feature acts as an attractor and the shifts are the result of the joint effects of the attractors. In the current framework, the assumption of a single, centralized saliency map is no longer necessary, though still plausible. Quantitative results on two large image datasets show that this model predicts shifts more accurately than winner-take-all.

scholarly journals Cue Competition Affects Temporal Dynamics of Edge-assignment in Human Visual Cortex

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Brooks ◽  
Stephen E. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Cue Competition ◽  
Relative Depth ◽  
Competition And Cooperation ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Take All ◽  
Figural Assignment ◽  
Ground Organization

Edge-assignment determines the perception of relative depth across an edge and the shape of the closer side. Many cues determine edge-assignment, but relatively little is known about the neural mechanisms involved in combining these cues. Here, we manipulated extremal edge and attention cues to bias edge-assignment such that these two cues either cooperated or competed. To index their neural representations, we flickered figure and ground regions at different frequencies and measured the corresponding steady-state visual-evoked potentials (SSVEPs). Figural regions had stronger SSVEP responses than ground regions, independent of whether they were attended or unattended. In addition, competition and cooperation between the two edge-assignment cues significantly affected the temporal dynamics of edge-assignment processes. The figural SSVEP response peaked earlier when the cues causing it cooperated than when they competed, but sustained edge-assignment effects were equivalent for cooperating and competing cues, consistent with a winner-take-all outcome. These results provide physiological evidence that figure–ground organization involves competitive processes that can affect the latency of figural assignment.

A Novel Detection Method of Paper Defects Based on Visual Attention Mechanism

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Jiang ◽  
Tao Gao
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Detection Method ◽  
Saliency Map ◽  
Attention Mechanism ◽  
Feature Maps ◽  
Seed Point ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Comparative Maps ◽  
Salient Points ◽  
Visual Attention Mechanism

In this paper, an improved paper defects detection method based on visual attention mechanism computation model is presented. First, multi-scale feature maps are extracted by linear filtering. Second, the comparative maps are obtained by carrying out center-surround difference operator. Third, the saliency map is obtained by combining conspicuity maps, which is gained by combining the multi-scale comparative maps. Last, the seed point of watershed segmentation is determined by competition among salient points in the saliency map and the defect regions are segmented from the background. Experimental results show the efficiency of the approach for paper defects detection.

A Novel Detection Method of Paper Defects Based on Visual Attention Mechanism

2013 ◽  
pp. 159-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Jiang ◽  
Tao Gao
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Detection Method ◽  
Saliency Map ◽  
Attention Mechanism ◽  
Feature Maps ◽  
Seed Point ◽  
Multi Scale ◽  
Comparative Maps ◽  
Salient Points ◽  
Visual Attention Mechanism

In this paper, an improved paper defects detection method based on visual attention mechanism computation model is presented. First, multi-scale feature maps are extracted by linear filtering. Second, the comparative maps are obtained by carrying out center-surround difference operator. Third, the saliency map is obtained by combining conspicuity maps, which is gained by combining the multi-scale comparative maps. Last, the seed point of watershed segmentation is determined by competition among salient points in the saliency map and the defect regions are segmented from the background. Experimental results show the efficiency of the approach for paper defects detection.

scholarly journals An awareness-dependent saliency map in the human visual system

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
LIJUAN WANG ◽  
LING HUANG ◽  
MENGSHA LI ◽  
XIAOTONG WANG ◽  
SHIYU WANG ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual System ◽  
Human Visual System ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Saliency Map ◽  
Exogenous Attention ◽  
Connectivity Analysis ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Take All

The bottom-up contribution to the allocation of exogenous attention is a saliency map. However, how the saliency map is distributed when multiple salient stimuli are presented simultaneously and how this distribution interacts with awareness remain unclear. These questions were addressed here using visible and invisible stimuli that consisting of two salient foregrounds: the high one served as the target and the low one served as the distractor, which did or did not interfere the target' saliency, indicating a gradient or winner-take-all manner, respectively. By combining psychophysics, fMRI, and effective connectivity analysis, we found that the saliency map was distributed as a gradient or winner-take-all manner with and without awareness, respectively. Crucially, we further revealed that the gradient manner was derived by feedback from pIPS, whereas the winner-take-all manner was constructed in V1. Together, our findings indicate an awareness-dependent saliency map and reconcile previous, seemingly contradictory findings on the saliency map.

Spatial summation in macaque parietal area 7a follows a winner-take-all rule

2011 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 1150-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Oleksiak ◽  
P. Christiaan Klink ◽  
Albert Postma ◽  
Ineke J. M. van der Ham ◽  
Martin J. Lankheet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Spatial Summation ◽  
Parietal Area ◽  
Area 7A ◽  
Summation Rule ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Take All

While neurons in posterior parietal cortex have been found to signal the presence of a salient stimulus among multiple items in a display, spatial summation within their receptive field in the absence of an attentional bias has never been investigated. This information, however, is indispensable when one investigates the mechanisms of spatial attention and competition between multiple visual objects. To examine the spatial summation rule in parietal area 7a neurons, we trained rhesus monkeys to fixate on a central cross while two identical stimuli were briefly displayed in a neuron's receptive field. The response to a pair of dots was compared with the responses to the same dots when they were presented individually. The scaling and power parameters of a generalized summation algorithm varied greatly, both across neurons and across combinations of stimulus locations. However, the averaged response of the recorded population of 7a neurons was consistent with a winner-take-all rule for spatial summation. A control experiment where a monkey covertly attended to both stimuli simultaneously suggests that attention introduces additional competition by facilitating the less optimal stimulus. Thus an averaging stage is introduced between ∼200 and 300 ms of the response to a pair of stimuli. In short, the summation algorithm over the population of area 7a neurons carries the signature of a winner-take-all operation, with spatial attention possibly influencing the temporal dynamics of stimulus competition, that is the moment that the “winner” takes “victory” over the “loser” stimulus.

Modelling divided visual attention with a winner-take-all network

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 620-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic I. Standage ◽  
Thomas P. Trappenberg ◽  
Raymond M. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
Take All

Interest Groups and Elections

2019 ◽  
pp. 339-357
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Organizational Forms ◽  
Super Pacs ◽  
New Organizational Forms ◽  
Winner Take All ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Take All

The relationships between interest groups, political parties, and elections have always been dynamic, but in recent years change has accelerated in ways that have favored some interests over others. This chapter considers these developments as the result of a variety of factors, the most critical of which are the growth of polarization, a new legal landscape for campaign finance, and new organizational forms. The chapter goes on to suggest, that as bipartisanship has ebbed, elections have become winner-take-all affairs and interest groups are pushed to choose sides. The chapter further suggests that the rise of super PACs is especially notable as wealthy individuals have become increasingly important, single sources of campaign money, supplanting in part traditional interest groups, especially conventional PACs. It concludes that even as sums spent by super PACs and other interest groups have skyrocketed, the impact of their direct spending on persuading voters remains uncertain.

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