Response to Katzhendler and Weinshall: Initial visual degradation during development may be adaptive

Abstract

We thank Katzhendler and Weinshall for their thought-provoking comment (1) on our paper (2). They argue that the computational simulations are insufficient to suggest that initially poor acuity may be an adaptive feature of visual development. The logic of their argument is this: Our evaluation of DNN performance is based not on classification of high-resolution images exclusively, but a range of image resolutions. Katzhendler and Weinshall (1) argue that low-resolution images either are not ecologically relevant and should therefore be neglected or, if relevant, then are likely available at all developmental time points, enabling training with a mix of low- and high-resolution images. Using such a mix, they indicate, … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: psinha{at}mit.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1