ABSTRACT
In the present paper, the subject of mapping in the visual cortex will be addressed. Four principal subjects will be covered: (1) A review of the calculus of two-dimensional maps is provided. It is shown that this suggests a mathematical formalism for describing the structure of topographic maps which might occur in the nervous system. (2) This descriptive formalism is applied to summarizing the global and local topographic structures of the primate striate cortex. In particular, areas where current experimental data are uncertain will be emphasized. (3) The functional significance of these patterns of mapping in the visual system are discussed, by briefly reviewing a series of papers which have studied the possible computational significance of striate cortex neuroanatomy. This review includes applications to binocular segmentation, perceptual invariances, visual illusions, and shape analysis. (4) Finally, recent experimental studies of shape analysis by neurons of inferotemporal cortex, which are related to the previous approach, are presented.
