Papers by Steven Wiederman
Current Biology, 2013
Animals need attention to focus on one target amid alternative distracters. Dragonflies, for exam... more Animals need attention to focus on one target amid alternative distracters. Dragonflies, for example, capture flies in swarms comprising prey and conspecifics, a feat that requires neurons to select one moving target from competing alternatives. Diverse evidence, from functional imaging and physiology to psychophysics, highlights the importance of such "competitive selection" in attention for vertebrates. Analogous mechanisms have been proposed in artificial intelligence and even in invertebrates, yet direct neural correlates of attention are scarce from all animal groups. Here, we demonstrate responses from an identified dragonfly visual neuron that perfectly match a model for competitive selection within limits of neuronal variability (r(2) = 0.83). Responses to individual targets moving at different locations within the receptive field differ in both magnitude and time course. However, responses to two simultaneous targets exclusively track those for one target alone rather than any combination of the pair. Irrespective of target size, contrast, or separation, this neuron selects one target from the pair and perfectly preserves the response, regardless of whether the "winner" is the stronger stimulus if presented alone. This neuron is amenable to electrophysiological recordings, providing neuroscientists with a new model system for studying selective attention.
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2007 3rd International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information, 2007
A challenging engineering problem is the ability to detect and discriminate small moving objects ... more A challenging engineering problem is the ability to detect and discriminate small moving objects against complex moving backgrounds. An evolutionary priority has tuned this capability within fly vision systems, so that they may detect, track and chase other flies, either for territorial or mating purposes. This is achieved within the confines of a light weight, low power system of less
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2014 International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications (DICTA), 2014
ABSTRACT Many species of flying insects detect and chase prey or conspecifics within a visually c... more ABSTRACT Many species of flying insects detect and chase prey or conspecifics within a visually cluttered surround, e.g. for predation, territorial or mating behavior. We modeled such detection and pursuit for small moving targets, and tested it within a closed-loop, virtual reality flight arena. Our model is inspired directly by electrophysiological recordings from 'small target motion detector' (STMD) neurons in the insect brain that are likely to underlie this behavioral task. The front-end uses a variant of a biologically inspired 'elementary' small target motion detector (ESTMD), elaborated to detect targets in natural scenes of both contrast polarities (i.e. both dark and light targets). We also include an additional model for the recently identified physiological 'facilitation' mechanism believed to form the basis for selective attention in insect STMDs, and quantify the improvement this provides for pursuit success and target discriminability over a range of target contrasts.
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2013 6th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER), 2013
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Biosensing, 2008
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2013 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence for Multimedia, Signal and Vision Processing (CIMSIVP), 2013
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2013 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, 2013
ABSTRACT We developed a biologically inspired model for detection and pursuit of small targets ag... more ABSTRACT We developed a biologically inspired model for detection and pursuit of small targets against complex backgrounds and tested it in a closed-loop flight arena. A winner-takes-all network of local feature detectors based on insect Small Target Motion Detector (STMD) neurons was used to direct the gaze of a camera mimicking the viewpoint of the pursuer in a series of small steps (saccades) whilst fixating the background. The output of a direction-selective network of 2nd order local motion correlators was then used to enhance the relative salience of features in the direction of travel of the winning feature. The combination of saccadic fixation and robust target-ground discrimination provided by the STMD front-end, with an attention-like 2nd order salience enhancement provided very reliable capture of tiny targets even in visually challenging scenarios.
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2008 3rd International Conference on Bio-Inspired Computing: Theories and Applications, 2008
Flies have the capability to detect and track small moving objects, often against cluttered movin... more Flies have the capability to detect and track small moving objects, often against cluttered moving backgrounds. From both a physiological and engineering perspective, understanding this computational process is an intriguing challenge. We have developed a target detection model inspired from electrophysiological recordings of dasiasmall target motion detectorpsila neurons within the insect brain. Our numerical modeling represents the neural processing along
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2011 Seventh International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, 2011
In nature, systems which visually process the world around them, in computationally efficient man... more In nature, systems which visually process the world around them, in computationally efficient manners, have evolved over millions of years. The brain of an insect, which is smaller than a grain of rice, and with less than a million neurons, can effectively engage in computationally challenging tasks. For example, visually detecting and discriminating small moving objects, which are embedded within
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2011 Seventh International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, 2011
Insects are an excellent model system for investigating computational mechanisms evolved for the ... more Insects are an excellent model system for investigating computational mechanisms evolved for the challenging task of visualising and tracking small moving targets. We examined a well categorised small target motion detector (STMD) neuron, the dragonfly centrifugal STMD 1 (CSTMD1). This neuron has an unusually slow response onset, with a time course in the order of hundreds of milliseconds. A parsimonious
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2011 Seventh International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, 2011
Flying insects chase prey and mates, skillfully exhibiting their ability to detect, track and pur... more Flying insects chase prey and mates, skillfully exhibiting their ability to detect, track and pursue a moving target within a complex visual environment. This is a challenging task, even for the most sophisticated vision systems. Using electrophysiological techniques we record from visual neurons in the insect brain likely to underlie this pursuit behavior. These neurons respond to the presentation of
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Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 2012
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Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing Research, 2013
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Current Research in Animal Physiology, 2011
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Flies have the capability to detect and track small moving objects, often against cluttered movin... more Flies have the capability to detect and track small moving objects, often against cluttered moving backgrounds. From both a physiological and engineering perspective, understanding this computational process is an intriguing challenge. We have developed a target detection model inspired from electrophysiological recordings of dasiasmall target motion detectorpsila neurons within the insect brain. Our numerical modeling represents the neural processing along
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Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing Conference, 2007
A challenging engineering problem is the ability to detect and discriminate small moving objects ... more A challenging engineering problem is the ability to detect and discriminate small moving objects against complex moving backgrounds. An evolutionary priority has tuned this capability within fly vision systems, so that they may detect, track and chase other flies, either for territorial or mating purposes. This is achieved within the confines of a light weight, low power system of less
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International Conference on Image Processing, Computer Vision, and Pattern Recognition, 2010
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Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing Conference, 2011
Flying insects chase prey and mates, skillfully exhibiting their ability to detect, track and pur... more Flying insects chase prey and mates, skillfully exhibiting their ability to detect, track and pursue a moving target within a complex visual environment. This is a challenging task, even for the most sophisticated vision systems. Using electrophysiological techniques we record from visual neurons in the insect brain likely to underlie this pursuit behavior. These neurons respond to the presentation of
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Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing Conference, 2011
Insects are an excellent model system for investigating computational mechanisms evolved for the ... more Insects are an excellent model system for investigating computational mechanisms evolved for the challenging task of visualising and tracking small moving targets. We examined a well categorised small target motion detector (STMD) neuron, the dragonfly centrifugal STMD 1 (CSTMD1). This neuron has an unusually slow response onset, with a time course in the order of hundreds of milliseconds. A parsimonious
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Papers by Steven Wiederman