An optimized framework to model vertebrate retinas

Abstract

The retina is a very complex neural structure, which contains many different types of neurons interconnected with great precision, enabling sophisticated conditioning and coding of the visual information before it is passed via the optic nerve to higher visual centers. Therefore the retina performs spatial, temporal, and chromatic processing on visual information and converts it into a compact 'digital' format composed of neural impulses. However, how groups of retinal ganglion cells encode a broad range of visual information is still a challenging and unresolved question. The main objective of this work is to design and develop a new functional tool able to describe, simulate and validate custom retina models. The whole system is optimized for visual neuroprosthesis and can be accelerated by using FPGAs, COTS microprocessors or GP-GPU based systems. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.