Microcircuits in the Visual System

The computational architecture of the brain involves the use of highly parallel, asynchronous, nonlinear and adaptive dynamical systems, namely the laminar neural microcircuits of the neocortex. Understanding the computational principles of the brain that subserve both low- and high-level perceptual and cognitive abilities, and expressing these in the form of a computer model which captures the fundamental processing powers of the laminar microcircuitry of the neocortex, could provide the foundation for a radical new generation of machines that have human-like performance in such perceptual and cognitive tasks. These machines would be capable of using self-organisation, adaptation and learning -- mechanisms which are inherent in the brain, in order to deal with complex, uncertain and dynamically changing information.

The fundamental aim of the Visual Microcorcuits Group at the CTCN is to create a new brain-inspired computing architecture which possesses the basic properties of self-organisation, adaptation and plasticity manifest in the neural circuitry of the neocortex. The objective is a modular architecture based on a representation of a stereotypical cortical microcircuit. We focus on the laminar microcircuits of the primary visual cortex in order to build on the wealth of neurobiological knowledge concerning the behaviour and interconnectivity of neurons in this area of neocortex. However the wider objective would be to use the laminar microcircuitry of primary visual cortex as an exemplar for a stereotypical neocortical microcircuitry and architecture.

Work in this field is supported by two large UK and EU grants, both aiming at the above described goals: