The extraction of features and disparities from images by a model based on the neurological organisation of the visual system

A computational simulation of the early stages of mammalian visual processing, from the retina to the primary visual cortex, is described. The simulation uses elements that are organised according to the anatomical connections of the biological visual system. It explores how observed responses of simple cells of the primary visual cortex can be generated by a small number of stages of the types of processing that are observed in the nervous system. Edge features are extracted from single images and disparities between stereoscopic image pairs are detected with good reliability. An important parameter affecting processing was found to be the strength of the surround inhibition between the elements that represent neurones of the primary visual cortex.