14,533 research outputs found
Dynamical Encoding by Networks of Competing Neuron Groups: Winnerless Competition
Following studies of olfactory processing in insects and fish, we investigate neural networks whose dynamics in phase space is represented by orbits near the heteroclinic connections between saddle regions (fixed points or limit cycles). These networks encode input information as trajectories along the heteroclinic connections. If there are N neurons in the network, the capacity is approximately e(N-1)!, i.e., much larger than that of most traditional network structures. We show that a small winnerless competition network composed of FitzHugh-Nagumo spiking neurons efficiently transforms input information into a spatiotemporal output
Classifiers With a Reject Option for Early Time-Series Classification
Early classification of time-series data in a dynamic environment is a
challenging problem of great importance in signal processing. This paper
proposes a classifier architecture with a reject option capable of online
decision making without the need to wait for the entire time series signal to
be present. The main idea is to classify an odor/gas signal with an acceptable
accuracy as early as possible. Instead of using posterior probability of a
classifier, the proposed method uses the "agreement" of an ensemble to decide
whether to accept or reject the candidate label. The introduced algorithm is
applied to the bio-chemistry problem of odor classification to build a novel
Electronic-Nose called Forefront-Nose. Experimental results on wind tunnel
test-bed facility confirms the robustness of the forefront-nose compared to the
standard classifiers from both earliness and recognition perspectives
Odor-driven attractor dynamics in the antennal lobe allow for simple and rapid olfactory pattern classification
The antennal lobe plays a central role for odor processing in insects, as demonstrated by electrophysiological and imaging experiments. Here we analyze the detailed temporal evolution of glomerular activity patterns in the antennal lobe of honeybees. We represent these spatiotemporal patterns as trajectories in a multidimensional space, where each dimension accounts for the activity of one glomerulus. Our data show that the trajectories reach odor-specific steady states (attractors) that correspond to stable activity patterns at about 1 second after stimulus onset. As revealed by a detailed mathematical investigation, the trajectories are characterized by different phases: response onset, steady-state plateau, response offset, and periods of spontaneous activity. An analysis based on support-vector machines quantifies the odor specificity of the attractors and the optimal time needed for odor discrimination. The results support the hypothesis of a spatial olfactory code in the antennal lobe and suggest a perceptron-like readout mechanism that is biologically implemented in a downstream network, such as the mushroom body
Fast and robust learning by reinforcement signals: explorations in the insect brain
We propose a model for pattern recognition in the insect brain. Departing from a well-known body of knowledge about the insect brain, we investigate which of the potentially present features may be useful to learn input patterns rapidly and in a stable manner. The plasticity underlying pattern recognition is situated in the insect mushroom bodies and requires an error signal to associate the stimulus with a proper response. As a proof of concept, we used our model insect brain to classify the well-known MNIST database of handwritten digits, a popular benchmark for classifiers. We show that the structural organization of the insect brain appears to be suitable for both fast learning of new stimuli and reasonable performance in stationary conditions. Furthermore, it is extremely robust to damage to the brain structures involved in sensory processing. Finally, we suggest that spatiotemporal dynamics can improve the level of confidence in a classification decision. The proposed approach allows testing the effect of hypothesized mechanisms rather than speculating on their benefit for system performance or confidence in its responses
Gain control network conditions in early sensory coding
Gain control is essential for the proper function of any sensory system. However, the precise mechanisms for achieving effective gain control in the brain are unknown. Based on our understanding of the existence and strength of connections in the insect olfactory system, we analyze the conditions that lead to controlled gain in a randomly connected network of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. We consider two scenarios for the variation of input into the system. In the first case, the intensity of the sensory input controls the input currents to a fixed proportion of neurons of the excitatory and inhibitory populations. In the second case, increasing intensity of the sensory stimulus will both, recruit an increasing number of neurons that receive input and change the input current that they receive. Using a mean field approximation for the network activity we derive relationships between the parameters of the network that ensure that the overall level of activity
of the excitatory population remains unchanged for increasing intensity of the external stimulation. We find that, first, the main parameters that regulate network gain are the probabilities of connections from the inhibitory population to the excitatory population and of the connections within the inhibitory population. Second, we show that strict gain control is not achievable in a random network in the second case, when the input recruits an increasing number of neurons. Finally, we confirm that the gain control conditions derived from the mean field approximation are valid in simulations of firing rate
models and Hodgkin-Huxley conductance based models
Data-driven modeling of the olfactory neural codes and their dynamics in the insect antennal lobe
Recordings from neurons in the insects' olfactory primary processing center,
the antennal lobe (AL), reveal that the AL is able to process the input from
chemical receptors into distinct neural activity patterns, called olfactory
neural codes. These exciting results show the importance of neural codes and
their relation to perception. The next challenge is to \emph{model the
dynamics} of neural codes. In our study, we perform multichannel recordings
from the projection neurons in the AL driven by different odorants. We then
derive a neural network from the electrophysiological data. The network
consists of lateral-inhibitory neurons and excitatory neurons, and is capable
of producing unique olfactory neural codes for the tested odorants.
Specifically, we (i) design a projection, an odor space, for the neural
recording from the AL, which discriminates between distinct odorants
trajectories (ii) characterize scent recognition, i.e., decision-making based
on olfactory signals and (iii) infer the wiring of the neural circuit, the
connectome of the AL. We show that the constructed model is consistent with
biological observations, such as contrast enhancement and robustness to noise.
The study answers a key biological question in identifying how lateral
inhibitory neurons can be wired to excitatory neurons to permit robust activity
patterns
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