Topic: visual representations

Recent experiments demonstrate that the brain transforms visual inputs into representations that follow straighter temporal trajectories than their initial photoreceptor encoding, facilitating prediction by linear extrapolation (Hénaff et al 2019; 2021). Can the brain use this principle to learn visual representations? Here, we develop an objective that quantifies straightening, augment it with a regularizer to prevent collapse to trivial solutions, and use it to train deep feedforward neural networks on video sequences. Decoding of the learned representation with a separately trained readout

Face detection is an initial step of many social interactions involving a comparison between a visual input and a mental representation of faces, built from previous experience. Whilst emotional state was found to affect the way humans attend to faces, little research has explored the effects of emotions on the mental representation of faces. Here, we examined the specific perceptual modulation of geometric properties of the mental representations associated with state anxiety and state depression on face detection, and to compare their emotional expression. To this end, we used an adaptation

Space is the universal donor for relations" (Gentner, 2014). This quote is the foundation of my talk. I will explore how and why visual representations and analogies are related, and why. I will also explore how considering the relation between analogy and spatial reasoning can shed light on why and how spatial thinking is correlated with learning in STEM fields. For example, I will consider children’s numbers sense and learning of the number line from the perspective of analogical reasoning.

We introduce OpenEyeSim 2.1, an extension of the OpenEyeSim platform that includes simulation of accommodation control and chromatic aberrations. It is suitable for developing models of the joint learning of visual representations, eye movements, and accommodation control in the perception-action cycle. The simulated lens properties are kept simple for efficiency reasons but are detailed enough to capture essential depth-of-field effects. The model can simulate different accommodation states depending on focal point and pupil aperture. The longitudinal chromatic aberration is used to produce c

Practicing a visual task leads to long-lasting perceptual improvements in humans and other animals. However, the generalization of Visual Learning (VL) to unseen conditions varies across different tasks. Particularly, it has been shown that learning ‘easy’ visual tasks leads to better generalization than learning ‘hard’ ones. Moreover, experimental evidence suggests that greater generalizability in VL can be achieved through sequential curriculum training, specifically by training on ‘easier’ versions of a task before progressing to ‘harder’ versions. Yet, a neurocomputational explanation for