Efficient Coding of Visual Scenes by Grouping and Segmentation

The goal of this chapter is to present computational theories of scene coding by image segmentation and to suggest their relevance for understanding visual cortical function and mechanisms. We will first introduce computational theories of image and scene segmentation and show their relationship to efficient encoding. Then we discuss and evaluate the relevant physiological data in the context of these computational frameworks. It is hoped that this will stimulate quantitative neurophysiological investigations of scene segmentation guided by computational theories.