Neurons subtract images and use the differences
Primary cortex generates efficiently compressed sensory
information
fficient reduction of data volumes
Researchers have hitherto assumed that information supplied
by the sense of sight was transmitted almost in its entirety from its entry
point to higher brain areas, across which visual sensation is generated. “It
was therefore a surprise to discover that the data volumes are considerably
reduced as early as in the primary visual cortex, the bottleneck leading to the
cerebrum,” says PD Dr Dirk Jancke from the Institute for Neural Computation at
the Ruhr-Universität. “We intuitively assume that our visual system generates a
continuous stream of images, just like a video camera. However, we have now
demonstrated that the visual cortex suppresses redundant information and saves
energy by frequently forwarding image differences.”