Large-scale Neuronal Theories of the Brain

Book excerpt: This book originated at a small and informal workshop held in December of 1992 in Idyllwild, a relatively secluded resort village situated amid forests in the San Jacinto Mountains above Palm Springs in Southern California. Eighteen colleagues from a broad range of disciplines, including biophysics, electrophysiology, neuroanatomy, psychophysics, clinical studies, mathematics and computer vision, discussed 'Large Scale Models of the Brain, ' that is, theories and models that cover a broad range of phenomena, including early and late vision, various memory systems, selective attention, and the neuronal code underlying figure-ground segregation and awareness (for a brief summary of this meeting, see Stevens 1993). The bias in the selection of the speakers toward researchers in the area of visual perception reflects both the academic background of one of the organizers as well as the (relative) more mature status of vision compared with other modalities. This should not be surprising given the emphasis we humans place on'seeing' for orienting ourselves, as well as the intense scrutiny visual processes have received due to their obvious usefullness in military, industrial, and robotic applications. JMD.