Learning Posture Invariant Spatial Representations Through Temporal Correlations

Michael W. Spratling

Abstract: A hierarchical neural network model is used to learn, without supervision, sensory-sensory coordinate transformations like those believed to be encoded in the dorsal pathway of the cerebral cortex. The resulting representations of visual space are invariant to eye orientation, neck orientation, or posture in general. These posture invariant spatial representations are learned using the same mechanisms that have previously been proposed to operate in the cortical ventral pathway to learn object representation that are invariant to translation, scale, orientation, or viewpoint in general. This model thus suggests that the same mechanisms of learning and development operate across multiple cortical hierarchies.