The visual cortex is a contact bundle (Q1123169): Difference between revisions

This paper seeks to interpret the physiology of vision in differential geometric terms. So far as this reviewer can determine the basis for the author's thesis that the visual cortex is a contact manifold is the following: There exist receptors in the visual cortex that are sensitive to line elements oriented in particular directions. It is the function of the visual cortex to ``integrate'' these line elements into contours. In differential geometry a contact structure serves to lift line elements to curves. Therefore the visual cortex is a contact manifold. The author's arguments for this thesis are presented less baldly than the above summary. Moreover the analogy is certainly appealing. However the reader will probably find neither the mathematical ``arguments'' nor the physiological evidence that the author presents sufficient to support the author's conclusion.