Covert Attention with a Spiking Neural Network

We propose an implementation of covert attention mechanisms with spiking neurons. Spiking neural models describe the activity of a neuron with precise spike-timing rather than firing rate. We investigate the interests offered by such a temporal code for low-level vision and early attentional process. This paper describes a spiking neural network which achieves saliency extraction and stable attentional focus of a moving stimulus. Experimental results obtained using real visual scene illustrate the robustness and the quickness of this approach.