Visual Cortical Models of Orientation Tuning

The primary visual cortex V1 finds local stimulus features in the neural image of the visual scene sent to V1 from the retina. There are various computational models for V1 that seek to explain its visual functions in terms of its architecture and connections. The feed-forward model simply uses the pattern of inputs to the cortex; while this model explains orientation preference, it cannot explain orientation selectivity. Recurrent excitation models account for selectivity but do not explain how there are both simple and complex cells in V1. Models that include strong corticocortical inhibition explain most of the important functions of V1, such as feature selectivity, and also the diverse populations of simple and complex cells.