Image Segregation by Motion : Cortical Mechanisms and Implementation in Neural Networks

The experimental evidence suggesting that at an early visual cortical level neurones signal differences in speed or direction of motion is reviewed. The functional significance of these findings is examined from the point of view of higher processing in visual parallel networks. We suggest that elementary visual parameters are processed in a dual way, in a ‘discontinuity’ and in a ‘continuous’ stream and that the power of ‘visual routines’ is due in part to the interplay between these two streams.