1,107 research outputs found
Electrical Compartmentalization in Neurons
The dendritic tree of neurons plays an important role in information processing in the brain. While it is thought that dendrites require independent subunits to perform most of their computations, it is still not understood how they compartmentalize into functional subunits. Here, we show how these subunits can be deduced from the properties of dendrites. We devised a formalism that links the dendritic arborization to an impedance-based tree graph and show how the topology of this graph reveals independent subunits. This analysis reveals that cooperativity between synapses decreases slowly with increasing electrical separation and thus that few independent subunits coexist. We nevertheless find that balanced inputs or shunting inhibition can modify this topology and increase the number and size of the subunits in a context-dependent manner. We also find that this dynamic recompartmentalization can enable branch-specific learning of stimulus features. Analysis of dendritic patch-clamp recording experiments confirmed our theoretical predictions.Peer reviewe
Exploring the information processing capabilities of random dendritic neural nets
The goal of this research is to investigate to what degree randona artificial dendritic nets can differentiate between temporal patterns after modifying the synaptic weights of certain synapses according to a learning algorithm based on the Fourier transform.
A dendritic net is organized into subnets, which provide impulse responses to a function as a basis for Fourier decomposition of the input pattern. Each subnet is randomly generated. According to the simulations, randomly generated subnets with appropriate parameters are good enough to provide the impulse responses for the Fourier decomposition.
The electrical potential pattern across the membrane of the dendrites follows the cable equation. The simulations use a linear synapse model, which is an approximation to biologically realistic synapses. Both excitatory and inhibitory synapses are present in a dendritic net.
The simulations show that random dendritic nets with a small number of subnets can be modified to differentiate between electrical current patterns to a high degree when the membrane conductance of the dendrites is high, and they also show that the random structures are highly fault-tolerant. The performance of a random dendritic net does not change much after adding or deleting subnets
Network Plasticity as Bayesian Inference
General results from statistical learning theory suggest to understand not
only brain computations, but also brain plasticity as probabilistic inference.
But a model for that has been missing. We propose that inherently stochastic
features of synaptic plasticity and spine motility enable cortical networks of
neurons to carry out probabilistic inference by sampling from a posterior
distribution of network configurations. This model provides a viable
alternative to existing models that propose convergence of parameters to
maximum likelihood values. It explains how priors on weight distributions and
connection probabilities can be merged optimally with learned experience, how
cortical networks can generalize learned information so well to novel
experiences, and how they can compensate continuously for unforeseen
disturbances of the network. The resulting new theory of network plasticity
explains from a functional perspective a number of experimental data on
stochastic aspects of synaptic plasticity that previously appeared to be quite
puzzling.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures, the supplement is available on the author's web
page http://www.igi.tugraz.at/kappe
Neuro-memristive Circuits for Edge Computing: A review
The volume, veracity, variability, and velocity of data produced from the
ever-increasing network of sensors connected to Internet pose challenges for
power management, scalability, and sustainability of cloud computing
infrastructure. Increasing the data processing capability of edge computing
devices at lower power requirements can reduce several overheads for cloud
computing solutions. This paper provides the review of neuromorphic
CMOS-memristive architectures that can be integrated into edge computing
devices. We discuss why the neuromorphic architectures are useful for edge
devices and show the advantages, drawbacks and open problems in the field of
neuro-memristive circuits for edge computing
A Biologically Plausible Learning Rule for Deep Learning in the Brain
Researchers have proposed that deep learning, which is providing important
progress in a wide range of high complexity tasks, might inspire new insights
into learning in the brain. However, the methods used for deep learning by
artificial neural networks are biologically unrealistic and would need to be
replaced by biologically realistic counterparts. Previous biologically
plausible reinforcement learning rules, like AGREL and AuGMEnT, showed
promising results but focused on shallow networks with three layers. Will these
learning rules also generalize to networks with more layers and can they handle
tasks of higher complexity? We demonstrate the learning scheme on classical and
hard image-classification benchmarks, namely MNIST, CIFAR10 and CIFAR100, cast
as direct reward tasks, both for fully connected, convolutional and locally
connected architectures. We show that our learning rule - Q-AGREL - performs
comparably to supervised learning via error-backpropagation, with this type of
trial-and-error reinforcement learning requiring only 1.5-2.5 times more
epochs, even when classifying 100 different classes as in CIFAR100. Our results
provide new insights into how deep learning may be implemented in the brain
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