http://www.indiana.edu/~p1013447/dictionary/lat_i.htm
【This means that neighboring visual neurons respond LESS if they are activated at the same time than if one is activated alone. So the fewer neighboring neurons stimulated, the more strongly a neuron responds. 该神经元周围的同时被刺激的神经元数目越少，该神经元的响应就越显著。】
Lateral inhibition refers to the inhibition that neighboring neurons in brain pathways have on each other. For example, in the visual system, neighboring pathways from the receptors to the optic nerve, which carries information to the visual areas of the brain, show lateral inhibition. This means that neighboring visual neurons respond LESS if they are activated at the same time than if one is activated alone. So the fewer neighboring neurons stimulated, the more strongly a neuron responds.
You might expect that such inhibition would decrease the visual system's ability to represent information. In fact, this process greatly increases the visual system's ability to respond to edges of a surface. This happens because neurons responding to the edge of a stimulus respond more strongly than do neurons responding to the middle. The "edge" neurons receive inhibition only from neighbors on one side -- the side away from the edge. Neurons stimulated from the middle of a surface get inhibition from all sides.
【It makes edges stand out 强化边缘】
The pictures you see taken from space craft are computer enhanced by a process just like lateral inhibition. Computer transformation of the raw image makes neighboring points of the computerized image inhibit each other. This makes the very faint edges in the original image much sharper. This is why lateral inhibition is important: It makes edges stand out