{"pk":28195,"title":"A neural network model for learning to represent 3D objects via tactile exploration","subtitle":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to answer the fundamental but still unan-swered question: how can brains represent 3D objects? Ratherthan building a model of visual processing, we focus on mod-eling the haptic sensorimotor processes through which objectsare explored by touch. This idea is inspired from two mainfacts: 1) in developmental terms, tactile exploration is the pri-mary means by which infants learn to represent object shapes;2) blind people can also represent and distinguish objects justby haptic exploration. Therefore, in this paper, we firstly es-tablish the relationship between the geometric properties of anobject and constrained navigation action sequences for tactileexploration. Then, a neural network model is proposed to rep-resent 3D objects from these experiences, using a mechanismthat is computationally similar to that used by hippocampalplace cells. Simulation results based on a 2 × 2 × 2 cube anda 3 × 2 × 1 cuboid show that the proposed model is effectivefor representing 3D objects via tactile exploration and compar-ative results suggest that the model is more efficient and accu-rate when learning a representation of the 3×2×1 cuboid withan asymmetrical geometrical structure than the 2 × 2 × 2 cubewith a symmetrical geometrical structure.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"tactile exploration; 3D object representations;constrained navigation action sequences; neural network"}],"section":"Publication-based-Talks","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3515m810","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Xiaogang","middle_name":"","last_name":"Yan","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Otago","department":""},{"first_name":"Alistair","middle_name":"","last_name":"Knott","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Otago","department":""},{"first_name":"Steven","middle_name":"","last_name":"Mills","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Otago","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2018-01-01T18:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/28195/galley/17854/download/"}]}