Local receptive fields

[Steve Hanson]

Tom, I wasn't meaning to be obfuscate, I just believe such questions do
lead to splitting hairs and in any case is a very complex issue.

  Which (sense) is truer to its physiological origins?

who knows?  (anyone who does please comment)  but receptive field
properties can be complex--they can be "simple".  Clearly not all neurons
are connected to all other neurons --so in that trivial sense
they are "local".  Do they have preference for other cells? No doubt.
But the data are complex and difficult to map onto specific
computational functions.  This I think is one of the advantages
to computational models in that modelers can quickly explore 
the computational consequences of hypotheses that 
neuroscientists must explore in more tedious and perhaps
information poorer ways.

	Steve