Parametric and Feature Extraction Analyses of the Receptive Fields of Visual Neurones

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Abstract
Two major conceptual approaches to visual receptive field physiology exist: a parametric approach, which considers all the properties of a cell are potentially related to that cell''s functional role; and a feature extraction approach, which regards a particular receptive field property as defining a cell''s role in the visual system. The parametric approach seems most compatible with network theories of visual information processing. The feature extraction approach suggests a localized single-cell form of visual representation. The growth and development of these 2 approaches is traced from 1938 to the present by dividing this period into 4 segments: 1938-1953, when the foundations of the approaches were laid; 1953-1966, the major period of growth for feature-extraction analyses; 1966-1975, the major period of growth for parametric analyses; and 1975 to the present, when the parametrc approach was expanded by the incorporation of systematic principles and population biology, allowing the study of neuron groups from a biological perspective.