52,850 research outputs found
The Neural Particle Filter
The robust estimation of dynamically changing features, such as the position
of prey, is one of the hallmarks of perception. On an abstract, algorithmic
level, nonlinear Bayesian filtering, i.e. the estimation of temporally changing
signals based on the history of observations, provides a mathematical framework
for dynamic perception in real time. Since the general, nonlinear filtering
problem is analytically intractable, particle filters are considered among the
most powerful approaches to approximating the solution numerically. Yet, these
algorithms prevalently rely on importance weights, and thus it remains an
unresolved question how the brain could implement such an inference strategy
with a neuronal population. Here, we propose the Neural Particle Filter (NPF),
a weight-less particle filter that can be interpreted as the neuronal dynamics
of a recurrently connected neural network that receives feed-forward input from
sensory neurons and represents the posterior probability distribution in terms
of samples. Specifically, this algorithm bridges the gap between the
computational task of online state estimation and an implementation that allows
networks of neurons in the brain to perform nonlinear Bayesian filtering. The
model captures not only the properties of temporal and multisensory integration
according to Bayesian statistics, but also allows online learning with a
maximum likelihood approach. With an example from multisensory integration, we
demonstrate that the numerical performance of the model is adequate to account
for both filtering and identification problems. Due to the weightless approach,
our algorithm alleviates the 'curse of dimensionality' and thus outperforms
conventional, weighted particle filters in higher dimensions for a limited
number of particles
Intrinsic Motivation and Mental Replay enable Efficient Online Adaptation in Stochastic Recurrent Networks
Autonomous robots need to interact with unknown, unstructured and changing
environments, constantly facing novel challenges. Therefore, continuous online
adaptation for lifelong-learning and the need of sample-efficient mechanisms to
adapt to changes in the environment, the constraints, the tasks, or the robot
itself are crucial. In this work, we propose a novel framework for
probabilistic online motion planning with online adaptation based on a
bio-inspired stochastic recurrent neural network. By using learning signals
which mimic the intrinsic motivation signalcognitive dissonance in addition
with a mental replay strategy to intensify experiences, the stochastic
recurrent network can learn from few physical interactions and adapts to novel
environments in seconds. We evaluate our online planning and adaptation
framework on an anthropomorphic KUKA LWR arm. The rapid online adaptation is
shown by learning unknown workspace constraints sample-efficiently from few
physical interactions while following given way points.Comment: accepted in Neural Network
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
Techniques for the Fast Simulation of Models of Highly dependable Systems
With the ever-increasing complexity and requirements of highly dependable systems, their evaluation during design and operation is becoming more crucial. Realistic models of such systems are often not amenable to analysis using conventional analytic or numerical methods. Therefore, analysts and designers turn to simulation to evaluate these models. However, accurate estimation of dependability measures of these models requires that the simulation frequently observes system failures, which are rare events in highly dependable systems. This renders ordinary Simulation impractical for evaluating such systems. To overcome this problem, simulation techniques based on importance sampling have been developed, and are very effective in certain settings. When importance sampling works well, simulation run lengths can be reduced by several orders of magnitude when estimating transient as well as steady-state dependability measures. This paper reviews some of the importance-sampling techniques that have been developed in recent years to estimate dependability measures efficiently in Markov and nonMarkov models of highly dependable system
Stochastic Synapses Enable Efficient Brain-Inspired Learning Machines
Recent studies have shown that synaptic unreliability is a robust and
sufficient mechanism for inducing the stochasticity observed in cortex. Here,
we introduce Synaptic Sampling Machines, a class of neural network models that
uses synaptic stochasticity as a means to Monte Carlo sampling and unsupervised
learning. Similar to the original formulation of Boltzmann machines, these
models can be viewed as a stochastic counterpart of Hopfield networks, but
where stochasticity is induced by a random mask over the connections. Synaptic
stochasticity plays the dual role of an efficient mechanism for sampling, and a
regularizer during learning akin to DropConnect. A local synaptic plasticity
rule implementing an event-driven form of contrastive divergence enables the
learning of generative models in an on-line fashion. Synaptic sampling machines
perform equally well using discrete-timed artificial units (as in Hopfield
networks) or continuous-timed leaky integrate & fire neurons. The learned
representations are remarkably sparse and robust to reductions in bit precision
and synapse pruning: removal of more than 75% of the weakest connections
followed by cursory re-learning causes a negligible performance loss on
benchmark classification tasks. The spiking neuron-based synaptic sampling
machines outperform existing spike-based unsupervised learners, while
potentially offering substantial advantages in terms of power and complexity,
and are thus promising models for on-line learning in brain-inspired hardware
Variational Walkback: Learning a Transition Operator as a Stochastic Recurrent Net
We propose a novel method to directly learn a stochastic transition operator
whose repeated application provides generated samples. Traditional undirected
graphical models approach this problem indirectly by learning a Markov chain
model whose stationary distribution obeys detailed balance with respect to a
parameterized energy function. The energy function is then modified so the
model and data distributions match, with no guarantee on the number of steps
required for the Markov chain to converge. Moreover, the detailed balance
condition is highly restrictive: energy based models corresponding to neural
networks must have symmetric weights, unlike biological neural circuits. In
contrast, we develop a method for directly learning arbitrarily parameterized
transition operators capable of expressing non-equilibrium stationary
distributions that violate detailed balance, thereby enabling us to learn more
biologically plausible asymmetric neural networks and more general non-energy
based dynamical systems. The proposed training objective, which we derive via
principled variational methods, encourages the transition operator to "walk
back" in multi-step trajectories that start at data-points, as quickly as
possible back to the original data points. We present a series of experimental
results illustrating the soundness of the proposed approach, Variational
Walkback (VW), on the MNIST, CIFAR-10, SVHN and CelebA datasets, demonstrating
superior samples compared to earlier attempts to learn a transition operator.
We also show that although each rapid training trajectory is limited to a
finite but variable number of steps, our transition operator continues to
generate good samples well past the length of such trajectories, thereby
demonstrating the match of its non-equilibrium stationary distribution to the
data distribution. Source Code: http://github.com/anirudh9119/walkback_nips17Comment: To appear at NIPS 201
Identification of criticality in neuronal avalanches: I. A theoretical investigation of the non-driven case
In this paper, we study a simple model of a purely excitatory neural network that, by construction, operates at a critical point. This model allows us to consider various markers of criticality and illustrate how they should perform in a finite-size system. By calculating the exact distribution of avalanche sizes, we are able to show that, over a limited range of avalanche sizes which we precisely identify, the distribution has scale free properties but is not a power law. This suggests that it would be inappropriate to dismiss a system as not being critical purely based on an inability to rigorously fit a power law distribution as has been recently advocated. In assessing whether a system, especially a finite-size one, is critical it is thus important to consider other possible markers. We illustrate
one of these by showing the divergence of susceptibility as the critical point of the system is approached. Finally, we provide evidence that power laws may underlie other observables of the system that may be more amenable to robust experimental assessment
A spectral multi-resolution image encoding network
After a short introduction into traditional image transform coding, multirate systems and multiscale signal coding the paper focuses on the subject of image encoding by a neural network. Taking also noise into account a network model is proposed which not only learns the optimal localized basis functions for the transform but also learns to implement a whitening filter by multi-resolution encoding. A simulation showing the multi-resolution capabilitys concludes the contribution
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