Are Muslims the New Catholics? Europe’s Headscarf Laws in Comparative Historical Perspective

In this paper a biologically-inspired model for partly occluded patterns is proposed. The model is based on the hypothesis that in human visual system occluding patterns play a key role in recognition as well as in reconstructing internal representation for a pattern’s occluding parts. The proposed model is realized with a bidirectional hierarchical neural network. In this network top-down cues, generated by direct connections from the lower to higher levels of hierarchy, interact with the bottom-up information, generated from the un-occluded parts, to recognize occluded patterns. Moreover, positional cues of the occluded as well as occluding patterns, that are computed separately but in the same network, modulate the top-down and bottom-up processing to reconstruct the occluded patterns. Simulation results support the presented hypothesis as well as effectiveness of the model in providing a solution to recognition of occluded patterns. The behavior of the model is in accordance to the known human behavior on the occluded patterns

Evidence for covert attention switching from eye-movements. Reply to commentaries on Liechty et al., 2003

We argue that our research objectives in Liechty, Pieters, and Wedel (2003) are to provide generalizable insights into covert visual attention to complex, multimodal stimuli in their natural context, through inverse inference from eye-movement data. We discuss the most important issues raised by Feng (2003) and Reichle and Nelson (2003), in particular the task definition, inclusion of ad features, object-based versus space-based attention and the evidence for the where and what streams.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45760/1/11336_2005_Article_BF02295611.pd

Procedural and declarative knowledge: an evolutionary perspective

It appears that there are resemblances in the organization of memory and the visual system, although the functions of these faculties differ considerably. In this article, the principles behind this organization are discussed. One important principle regards the distinction between declarative and procedural knowledge, between knowing that and knowing how. Declarative knowledge is considered here not as an alternative kind of knowledge, as is usually the case in theories of memory, but as part of procedural knowledge. In our view this leads to another approach with respect to the distinction. Declarative knowledge has occupied more attention in (cognitive) psychological research than can be justified on the basis of the importance of procedural knowledge for behavior. We also discuss the question whether there are other brain faculties that reflect the same organizational characteristics. We conclude with some speculations about the consequent role of consciousness in such a tentative model

Impairments in spatial generalization of visual skills after V4 and TEO lesions in macaques

The authors tested the spatial generalization of shape and color discriminations in 2 monkeys, in which 3 visual field quadrants were affected, respectively, by lesions in area V4, TEO, or both areas combined. The fourth quadrant served as a normal control. The monkeys were trained to discriminate stimuli presented in a standard location in each quadrant, followed by tests of discrimination performance in new locations in the same quadrant. In the quadrant affected by the V4 + TEO lesion, the authors found temporary but striking deficits in spatial generalization of shape and color discriminations over small distances, suggesting a contribution of areas V4 and TEO to short-range spatial generalization of visual skills

Visual responses to targets and distracters by inferior temporal neurons after lesions of extrastriate areas V4 and TEO

While lesions of visual areas V4 and TEO only modestly affect discrimination of isolated objects, they significantly impair the ability to selectively attend to an object surrounded by distracters. To test whether such deficits result from a loss of inputs to higher order areas, we recorded from area TE neurons after removing portions of V4 and TEO in a monkey. Responses to isolated targets in a lesion-affected visual quadrant were substantially preserved, indicating that TE still receives information even after removing a major source of input. Distracters increased or decreased the response to targets more in the lesion-affected than in the normal quadrant, supporting the idea that V4 and/or TEO are sites where top-down attentional inputs filter out distracting stimuli

Visual responses to targets and distracters by inferior temporal neurons after lesions of extrastriate areas V4 and TEO

While lesions of visual areas V4 and TEO only modestly affect discrimination of isolated objects, they significantly impair the ability to selectively attend to an object surrounded by distracters.To test whether such deficits result from a loss of inputs to higher order areas, we recorded from area TE neurons after removing portions of V4 and TEO in a monkey. Responses to isolated targets in a lesion-affected visual quadrant were substantially preserved, indicating that TE still receives information even after removing a major source of input. Distracters increased or decreased the response to targets more in the lesion-affected than in the normal quadrant, supporting the idea that V4 and/orTEO are sites where top-down attentional inputs filter out distracting stimuli