61 research outputs found
An Efficient Method for online Detection of Polychronous Patterns in Spiking Neural Network
Polychronous neural groups are effective structures for the recognition of
precise spike-timing patterns but the detection method is an inefficient
multi-stage brute force process that works off-line on pre-recorded simulation
data. This work presents a new model of polychronous patterns that can capture
precise sequences of spikes directly in the neural simulation. In this scheme,
each neuron is assigned a randomized code that is used to tag the post-synaptic
neurons whenever a spike is transmitted. This creates a polychronous code that
preserves the order of pre-synaptic activity and can be registered in a hash
table when the post-synaptic neuron spikes. A polychronous code is a
sub-component of a polychronous group that will occur, along with others, when
the group is active. We demonstrate the representational and pattern
recognition ability of polychronous codes on a direction selective visual task
involving moving bars that is typical of a computation performed by simple
cells in the cortex. The computational efficiency of the proposed algorithm far
exceeds existing polychronous group detection methods and is well suited for
online detection.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure
Financial time series prediction using spiking neural networks
In this paper a novel application of a particular type of spiking neural network, a Polychronous Spiking Network, was used for financial time series prediction. It is argued that the inherent temporal capabilities of this type of network are suited to non-stationary data such as this. The performance of the spiking neural network was benchmarked against three systems: two "traditional", rate-encoded, neural networks; a Multi-Layer Perceptron neural network and a Dynamic Ridge Polynomial neural network, and a standard Linear Predictor Coefficients model. For this comparison three non-stationary and noisy time series were used: IBM stock data; US/Euro exchange rate data, and the price of Brent crude oil. The experiments demonstrated favourable prediction results for the Spiking Neural Network in terms of Annualised Return and prediction error for 5-Step ahead predictions. These results were also supported by other relevant metrics such as Maximum Drawdown and Signal-To-Noise ratio. This work demonstrated the applicability of the Polychronous Spiking Network to financial data forecasting and this in turn indicates the potential of using such networks over traditional systems in difficult to manage non-stationary environments. © 2014 Reid et al
On the information in spike timing: neural codes derived from polychronous groups
There is growing evidence regarding the importance of spike timing in neural
information processing, with even a small number of spikes carrying
information, but computational models lag significantly behind those for rate
coding. Experimental evidence on neuronal behavior is consistent with the
dynamical and state dependent behavior provided by recurrent connections. This
motivates the minimalistic abstraction investigated in this paper, aimed at
providing insight into information encoding in spike timing via recurrent
connections. We employ information-theoretic techniques for a simple reservoir
model which encodes input spatiotemporal patterns into a sparse neural code,
translating the polychronous groups introduced by Izhikevich into codewords on
which we can perform standard vector operations. We show that the distance
properties of the code are similar to those for (optimal) random codes. In
particular, the code meets benchmarks associated with both linear
classification and capacity, with the latter scaling exponentially with
reservoir size
Detection and storage of multivariate temporal sequences by spiking pattern reverberators
We consider networks of spiking coincidence detectors in continuous time. A single detector is a finite state machine that emits a pulsatile signal whenever the number incoming inputs exceeds a threshold within a time window of some tolerance width. Such finite state models are well-suited for hardware implementations of neural networks, as on integrated circuits (IC) or field programmable arrays (FPGAs) but they also reflect the natural capability of many neurons to act as coincidence detectors. We pay special attention to a recurrent coupling structure, where the delays are tuned to a specific pattern. Applying this pattern as an external input leads to a self-sustained reverberation of the encoded pattern if the tuning is chosen correctly. In terms of the coupling structure, the tolerance and the refractory time of the individual coincidence detectors, we determine conditions for the uniqueness of the sustained activity, i.e., for the funcionality of the network as an unambiguous pattern detector. We also present numerical experiments, where the functionality of the proposed pattern detector is demonstrated replacing the simplistic finite state models by more realistic Hodgkin-Huxley neurons and we consider the possibility of implementing several pattern detectors using a set of shared coincidence detectors. We propose that inhibitory connections may aid to increase the precision of the pattern discrimination
Design for a Darwinian Brain: Part 1. Philosophy and Neuroscience
Physical symbol systems are needed for open-ended cognition. A good way to
understand physical symbol systems is by comparison of thought to chemistry.
Both have systematicity, productivity and compositionality. The state of the
art in cognitive architectures for open-ended cognition is critically assessed.
I conclude that a cognitive architecture that evolves symbol structures in the
brain is a promising candidate to explain open-ended cognition. Part 2 of the
paper presents such a cognitive architecture.Comment: Darwinian Neurodynamics. Submitted as a two part paper to Living
Machines 2013 Natural History Museum, Londo
The influence of dopamine on prediction, action and learning
In this thesis I explore functions of the neuromodulator dopamine in the context
of autonomous learning and behaviour. I first investigate dopaminergic influence
within a simulated agent-based model, demonstrating how modulation of
synaptic plasticity can enable reward-mediated learning that is both adaptive and
self-limiting. I describe how this mechanism is driven by the dynamics of agentenvironment
interaction and consequently suggest roles for both complex spontaneous
neuronal activity and specific neuroanatomy in the expression of early, exploratory
behaviour. I then show how the observed response of dopamine neurons
in the mammalian basal ganglia may also be modelled by similar processes involving
dopaminergic neuromodulation and cortical spike-pattern representation within
an architecture of counteracting excitatory and inhibitory neural pathways, reflecting
gross mammalian neuroanatomy. Significantly, I demonstrate how combined
modulation of synaptic plasticity and neuronal excitability enables specific (timely)
spike-patterns to be recognised and selectively responded to by efferent neural populations,
therefore providing a novel spike-timing based implementation of the hypothetical
‘serial-compound’ representation suggested by temporal difference learning.
I subsequently discuss more recent work, focused upon modelling those complex
spike-patterns observed in cortex. Here, I describe neural features likely to contribute
to the expression of such activity and subsequently present novel simulation
software allowing for interactive exploration of these factors, in a more comprehensive
neural model that implements both dynamical synapses and dopaminergic
neuromodulation. I conclude by describing how the work presented ultimately suggests
an integrated theory of autonomous learning, in which direct coupling of agent
and environment supports a predictive coding mechanism, bootstrapped in early
development by a more fundamental process of trial-and-error learning
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