A pictorial pattern recognition based on an associative memory by use of the reaction-diffusion equation

Visual information processing in biological systems is performed simultaneously and in parallel at each neural unit. That is, a global task with no supervisor is achieved by the interaction among many subsystems. In this sense, the visual process shares the common functional structure with `autonomous decentralized systems´ which have attracted much attention in the field of system engineering. We attempt to design a pictorial pattern recognition system based on the concept of the autonomous decentralized system. The local interaction among subsystems is described by reaction-diffusion equations, in which each subsystem utilizes only the neighboring information around itself