Lateral Inhibition

Definition

Lateral inhibition refers to the process where neighboring neurons inhibit each other's activity, enhancing contrast and making edges more detectable. It helps sharpen the perception of edges by suppressing the activity of nearby neurons.

Related terms

Receptive Field: Receptive field refers to the specific area in which a neuron responds to stimuli. Neurons with larger receptive fields can detect broader features, while neurons with smaller receptive fields are better at detecting fine details.

Edge Detection:

Edge detection is the ability of our visual system to identify boundaries between different objects or regions in an image. It helps us perceive shapes and contours.

Contrast Enhancement: Contrast enhancement involves increasing the difference in intensity or color between adjacent regions in an image. Lateral inhibition plays a crucial role in enhancing contrast by reducing neural activity in less stimulated areas, making differences between adjacent regions more noticeable.