Understanding physiological and degenerative natural vision mechanisms to define contrast and contour operators.

Background: Dynamical systems like neural networks based on lateral inhibition have a large field of applications in image processing, robotics and morphogenesis modeling. In this paper, we will propose some examples of dynamical flows used in image contrasting and contouring.

Methodology: First we present the physiological basis of the retina function by showing the role of the lateral inhibition in the optical illusions and pathologic processes generation.