An improved simplified PCNN model for salient region detection

As PCNN is modulated by using the pulse-coupled synaptic mechanisms, it has a great potential for image processing in a complex real-world environment, especially in images. A new simplified pulse coupled neural network (SPCNN) is proposed. This new model uses the pixel intensity with the actual physical meanings as the input parameters instead of the abstract network parameters in the original SPCNN. In order to achieve this goal, we try to derive the general formulae of dynamic threshold and internal activity of the SPCNN according to the dynamic properties of neurons and then deduce the relationship between the pixel intensity and the abstract parameters. Then, the relationship is transformed into an objective optimization problem to obtain the appropriate abstract parameters. Finally, extensive experiments are conducted on seven widely used datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and shown improvement on the salient region detection.