This book describes several mathematical models of the primary visual cortex, referring them to a vast ensemble of experimental data and putting forward an original geometrical model for its functional architecture, that is, the highly specific organization of its neural connections.
Jean Petitot specializes in mathematical modeling in the cognitive sciences. Former student and teacher at the École Polytechnique, he is currently Professor at the Mathematics Center of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He is a member of the International Academy of Philosophy of Science. Having worked for several years on the theory of singularities in differential geometry, he was one of the first to become interested in René Thom's morphodynamic models of visual perception and phonetics in the 1970s. He is the author of several books, such as Neurogeomtrie de la vision (École Polytechnique, Ellipses, 2008), ‘Physique du Sen’ (Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, 1992), ‘Morphogenèse du Sens’ (Presses Universitaires de France, 1985; English transl. Peter Lang, 2004), five other books, and more than 300 papers. He is also co-editor of ‘Constituting Objectivity’ (Springer, 2009), ‘Neurogeometry and Visual Perception’ (J. of Physiology-Paris, 2003), ‘Au Nom du Sens’, a tribute to Umberto Eco (Grasset, 2000), ‘Naturalizing Phenomenology’ (Stanford University Press, 1999), ‘Logos et Théorie des Catastrophes’, a tribute to René Thom, (Patiño, 1988).
Innehållsförteckning
Preface.- Introdcution.- Receptive Fields and Profiles, and Wavelet Analysis.- Pinwheels of V1 Horizontal Connections and Contact Structure.-Transition to Volume II.- References.