Statistics of natural scenes and the cortical representation of color

G. A. Cecchi; A. R. Rao; Y. Xiao; E. Kaplan

doi:10.1117/12.769003

13 February 2008 Statistics of natural scenes and the cortical representation of color

G. A. Cecchi, A. R. Rao, Y. Xiao, E. Kaplan

Proceedings Volume 6806, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XIII; 680607 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.769003
Event: Electronic Imaging, 2008, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the spatial correlational structure of orientation and color information in natural images. We compare these with the spatial correlation structure of optical recordings of macaque monkey primary visual cortex, in response to oriented and color stimuli. We show that the correlation of orientation falls off rapidly over increasing distance. By using a color metric based on the a-b coordinates in the CIE-Lab color space, we show that color information, on the other hand, is more highly correlated over larger distances. We also show that orientation and color information are statistically independent in natural images. We perform a similar spatial correlation analysis of the cortical responses to orientation and color. We observe a similar behavior to that of natural images, in that the correlation of orientation-specific responses falls off; more rapidly than the correlation of color-specific responses. Our findings suggest that: (a) orientation and color information should be processed in separate channels, and (b) the organization of cortical color responses at a lower spatial frequency compared to orientation is a reflection of the statistical structure of visual world.

Citation Download Citation

G. A. Cecchi, A. R. Rao, Y. Xiao, and E. Kaplan "Statistics of natural scenes and the cortical representation of color", Proc. SPIE 6806, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XIII, 680607 (13 February 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.769003

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available