Wolf F, Geisel T
Department of Nonlinear Dynamics, Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung and Institute for Nonlinear Dynamics, Fakultät für Physik, Universität Göttingen, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany.
J Physiol Paris. 2003 Mar-May;97(2-3):253-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2003.09.018.
During ontogenetic development, the visual cortical circuitry is remodeled by activity-dependent mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. From a dynamical systems perspective this is a process of dynamic pattern formation. The emerging cortical network supports functional activity patterns that are used to guide the further improvement of the network's structure. In this picture, spontaneous symmetry breaking in the developmental dynamics of the cortical network underlies the emergence of cortical selectivities such as orientation preference. Here universal properties of this process depending only on basic biological symmetries of the cortical network are analyzed. In particular, we discuss the description of the development of orientation preference columns in terms of a dynamics of abstract order parameter fields, connect this description to the theory of Gaussian random fields, and show how the theory of Gaussian random fields can be used to obtain quantitative information on the generation and motion of pinwheels, in the two dimensional pattern of visual cortical orientation columns.
在个体发育过程中，视觉皮层回路通过依赖活动的突触可塑性机制进行重塑。从动态系统的角度来看，这是一个动态模式形成的过程。新兴的皮层网络支持用于指导网络结构进一步优化的功能活动模式。在这种情况下，皮层网络发育动力学中的自发对称性破缺是皮层选择性（如方向偏好）出现的基础。这里分析了仅依赖于皮层网络基本生物学对称性的这一过程的普遍特性。特别是，我们讨论了根据抽象序参量场的动力学来描述方向偏好柱的发育，将这种描述与高斯随机场理论联系起来，并展示了如何利用高斯随机场理论来获取二维视觉皮层方向柱模式中风车图案的生成和运动的定量信息。
