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SUMMARY:Experimental tests of the theory that V1 creates a bottom-up visua
 l saliency map for attentional guidance - Professor Zhaoping Li\, Computer
  Science\, UCL
DTSTART:20091127T130000Z
DTEND:20091127T140000Z
UID:TALK20685@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:John Mollon
DESCRIPTION:Despite our extensive knowledge on the physiology and anatomy 
 of the primary visual cortex\, its functional role in vision is still rega
 rded by the research community as mostly unclear. This talk will first rev
 iew the background and the motivation for the 10 year old theoretical hypo
 thesis that the primary visual cortex (V1) creates a bottom-up saliency ma
 p to guide attention or gaze. Then\, I will present the recent experimenta
 l tests that confirmed some of the non-trivial predictions from this theor
 y\, including the surprising prediction that an eye-of-origin singleton\, 
 which is non-distinctive to visual awareness\,  can nevertheless pop out t
 o attract attention.  Implications on the neural substrates of both the to
 p-down and bottom-up visual attention will be discussed. Some backgrounds 
 and details can be found at http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/Zhaoping.Li/V1Sa
 liency.html
LOCATION:Kenneth Craik Room\, Craik-Marshall Building\, Downing Site
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