Linking visual cortical development to visual perception

Abstract

A central question in cognitive science and neuro science concerns how the visual cortex autonomously develops, stabilizes its own development, and then gives rise to visual perception in the adult. A neural model is here reviewed of how these processes work and are related (Grossberg and Williamson, 2000). The model suggests how the mechanisms which enable development to stabilize in the infant lead to adult properties of perceptual grouping, attention, and learning. It hereby opens a path towards unifying three fields: infant cortical development, adult cortical neurophysiology and anatomy, and adult visual psychophysics.