Crowding and attention in a framework of neural network model

Abstract

In this article, I present a framework that would accommodate the classic ideas of visual information processing together with more recent computational approaches. I used the current knowledge about visual crowding, capacity limitations, attention, and saliency to place these phenomena within a standard neural network model. I suggest some revisions to traditional mechanisms of attention and feature integration that are required to fit better into this framework. The results allow us to explain some apparent theoretical controversies in vision research, suggesting a rationale for the limited spatial extent of crowding, a role of saliency in crowding experiments, and several amendments to the feature integration theory. The scheme can be elaborated or modified by future research.