In a pilot study motivated by recent results on the lateral connectivity and dynamic processes in the mammalian neocortex, a new model of coritcal self-organization called LCSOFM (Laterally Connected Self-Organizing Feature Map) was developed. This research focuses on LCSOFM as a computational model of the primary visual cortex. The main hypothesis is that the lateral connectivity in the visual cortex mediates cooperation and competition necessary for the self-organization and low-level perceptual phenomena. The hypothesis will be tested by building a LCSOFM model of the visual cortex and analyzing its behavior through simulated neuroscience experiments. The LCSOFM model permits computational study of the visual cortex at a new, more fundamental level than earlier models, and allows us to test several new hypotheses about its structure and function. Based on the pilot study, there is reason to believe that the model can verify whether (1) self-organization can be based on cooperation and competition among laterally connected neurons; (2) the observed patterns of long-range lateral connections arise from correlations in neural activity; (3) plasticity of the cortex results from reorganization of lateral connections; (4) tilt illusions arise from competition of neural responses in laterally connected retinotopic maps; (5) gestalt principles can be extracted from visual experience and encoded into lateral connections; and (6) cooperation and competition through lateral connection, combine with binding by phase-locking, can be responsible for segmentation of visual input into coherent wholes.//
