Figure-ground separation by a dynamical system

This paper describes a neural network inspired dynamical system approach to a perceptual grouping problem-figure-ground separation. In this approach, a nonlinear differential equation is defined at each pixel site and coupled with those at its neighbors. The steady state solution would determine whether a pixel is part of a salient structure or background noise. The neighborhood couplings are used to achieve spatial interactions that are essential to perceptual grouping, such as excitation and inhibition. Experimental results on the grouping of dots in synthetic and real-world images demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach.