175,905 research outputs found
Solving constraint-satisfaction problems with distributed neocortical-like neuronal networks
Finding actions that satisfy the constraints imposed by both external inputs
and internal representations is central to decision making. We demonstrate that
some important classes of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) can be solved
by networks composed of homogeneous cooperative-competitive modules that have
connectivity similar to motifs observed in the superficial layers of neocortex.
The winner-take-all modules are sparsely coupled by programming neurons that
embed the constraints onto the otherwise homogeneous modular computational
substrate. We show rules that embed any instance of the CSPs planar four-color
graph coloring, maximum independent set, and Sudoku on this substrate, and
provide mathematical proofs that guarantee these graph coloring problems will
convergence to a solution. The network is composed of non-saturating linear
threshold neurons. Their lack of right saturation allows the overall network to
explore the problem space driven through the unstable dynamics generated by
recurrent excitation. The direction of exploration is steered by the constraint
neurons. While many problems can be solved using only linear inhibitory
constraints, network performance on hard problems benefits significantly when
these negative constraints are implemented by non-linear multiplicative
inhibition. Overall, our results demonstrate the importance of instability
rather than stability in network computation, and also offer insight into the
computational role of dual inhibitory mechanisms in neural circuits.Comment: Accepted manuscript, in press, Neural Computation (2018
Death and rebirth of neural activity in sparse inhibitory networks
In this paper, we clarify the mechanisms underlying a general phenomenon
present in pulse-coupled heterogeneous inhibitory networks: inhibition can
induce not only suppression of the neural activity, as expected, but it can
also promote neural reactivation. In particular, for globally coupled systems,
the number of firing neurons monotonically reduces upon increasing the strength
of inhibition (neurons' death). However, the random pruning of the connections
is able to reverse the action of inhibition, i.e. in a sparse network a
sufficiently strong synaptic strength can surprisingly promote, rather than
depress, the activity of the neurons (neurons' rebirth). Thus the number of
firing neurons reveals a minimum at some intermediate synaptic strength. We
show that this minimum signals a transition from a regime dominated by the
neurons with higher firing activity to a phase where all neurons are
effectively sub-threshold and their irregular firing is driven by current
fluctuations. We explain the origin of the transition by deriving an analytic
mean field formulation of the problem able to provide the fraction of active
neurons as well as the first two moments of their firing statistics. The
introduction of a synaptic time scale does not modify the main aspects of the
reported phenomenon. However, for sufficiently slow synapses the transition
becomes dramatic, the system passes from a perfectly regular evolution to an
irregular bursting dynamics. In this latter regime the model provides
predictions consistent with experimental findings for a specific class of
neurons, namely the medium spiny neurons in the striatum.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, submitted to NJ
Pre-integration lateral inhibition enhances unsupervised learning
A large and influential class of neural network architectures use
post-integration lateral inhibition as a mechanism for competition. We argue
that these algorithms are computationally deficient in that they fail to
generate, or learn, appropriate perceptual representations under certain
circumstances. An alternative neural network architecture is presented in which
nodes compete for the right to receive inputs rather than for the right to
generate outputs. This form of competition, implemented through pre-integration
lateral inhibition, does provide appropriate coding properties and can be used
to efficiently learn such representations. Furthermore, this architecture is
consistent with both neuro-anatomical and neuro-physiological data. We thus
argue that pre-integration lateral inhibition has computational advantages over
conventional neural network architectures while remaining equally biologically
plausible
Exploring the functional significance of dendritic inhibition in cortical pyramidal cells
Inhibitory synapses contacting the soma and axon initial segment are commonly
presumed to participate in shaping the response properties of cortical pyramidal
cells. Such an inhibitory mechanism has been explored in numerous computational
models. However, the majority of inhibitory synapses target the dendrites of
pyramidal cells, and recent physiological data suggests that this dendritic
inhibition affects tuning properties. We describe a model that can be used to
investigate the role of dendritic inhibition in the competition between
neurons. With this model we demonstrate that dendritic inhibition significantly
enhances the computational and representational properties of neural networks
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