ABSTRACT
Recognition of a phoneme is achieved by noting the presence or absence of each particular distinctive feature in the input signal and hence arriving at a description of the signal, perhaps in the form of a list of feature values. The disappointing performance of the distinctive features scheme for classifying letters could be interpreted against the feature analysis theory of human pattern recognition, but in practice other conclusions are preferred. The task of enumerating the elementary features in visual pattern recognition has been tackled on various fronts at the same time. Machines have been built that can recognize simple characters like the stylized ones on bank cheques. Thus pattern recognition is also the province of certain engineers and computer scientists. The success of neuroanatomists and neurophysiologists in mapping out information routes and processing mechanisms in the preliminary stages of visual analysis is particularly impressive.
