Diamant Emanuel
VIDIA-mant, P.O. Box 933, 55100 Kiriat Ono, Israel.
Brain Res. 2008 Aug 15;1225:171-8. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.05.017. Epub 2008 May 18.
It is generally accepted that human vision is an extremely powerful information processing system that facilitates our interaction with the surrounding world. However, despite extended and extensive research efforts, which encompass many exploration fields, the underlying fundamentals and operational principles of visual information processing in human brain remain unknown. We still are unable to figure out where and how along the path from eyes to the cortex the sensory input perceived by the retina is converted into a meaningful object representation, which can be consciously manipulated by the brain. Studying the vast literature considering the various aspects of brain information processing, I was surprised to learn that the respected scholarly discussion is totally indifferent to the basic keynote question: "What is information?" in general or "What is visual information?" in particular. In the old days, it was assumed that any scientific research approach has first to define its basic departure points. Why was it overlooked in brain information processing research remains a conundrum. In this paper, I am trying to find a remedy for this bizarre situation. I propose an uncommon definition of "information", which can be derived from Kolmogorov's Complexity Theory and Chaitin's notion of Algorithmic Information. Embracing this new definition leads to an inevitable revision of traditional dogmas that shape the state of the art of brain information processing research. I hope this revision would better serve the challenging goal of human visual information processing modeling.
人们普遍认为,人类视觉是一个极其强大的信息处理系统,它促进了我们与周围世界的互动。然而,尽管进行了广泛而深入的研究,涵盖了许多探索领域,但人类大脑中视觉信息处理的基本原理和运作原则仍然未知。我们仍然无法弄清楚从眼睛到皮层的路径中,视网膜感知的感官输入在哪里以及如何被转化为有意义的物体表征,而这种表征可以被大脑有意识地操控。在研究了大量关于大脑信息处理各个方面的文献后,我惊讶地发现,备受尊敬的学术讨论完全忽略了这个基本的关键问题:一般来说,“信息是什么?” 特别是 “视觉信息是什么?” 在过去,人们认为任何科学研究方法都必须首先定义其基本出发点。为什么在大脑信息处理研究中被忽视仍然是一个谜。在本文中,我试图为这种奇怪的情况找到一种补救方法。我提出了一个不同寻常的 “信息” 定义,它可以从柯尔莫哥洛夫复杂性理论和柴廷的算法信息概念中推导出来。接受这个新定义将不可避免地导致对塑造大脑信息处理研究现状的传统教条进行修正。我希望这种修正能更好地服务于人类视觉信息处理建模这一具有挑战性的目标。