An Unsupervised Autoregressive Model for Speech Representation Learning

This paper proposes a novel unsupervised autoregressive neural model for learning generic speech representations. In contrast to other speech representation learning methods that aim to remove noise or speaker variabilities, ours is designed to preserve information for a wide range of downstream tasks. In addition, the proposed model does not require any phonetic or word boundary labels, allowing the model to benefit from large quantities of unlabeled data. Speech representations learned by our model significantly improve performance on both phone classification and speaker verification over the surface features and other supervised and unsupervised approaches. Further analysis shows that different levels of speech information are captured by our model at different layers. In particular, the lower layers tend to be more discriminative for speakers, while the upper layers provide more phonetic content.Comment: Accepted to Interspeech 2019. Code available at: https://github.com/iamyuanchung/Autoregressive-Predictive-Codin

Adhesive L1CAM-Robo Signaling Aligns Growth Cone F-Actin Dynamics to Promote Axon-Dendrite Fasciculation in C. elegans

Neurite fasciculation through contact-dependent signaling is important for the wiring and function of the neuronal circuits. Here, we describe a type of axon-dendrite fasciculation in C. elegans, where proximal dendrites of the nociceptor PVD adhere to the axon of the ALA interneuron. This axon-dendrite fasciculation is mediated by a previously uncharacterized adhesive signaling by the ALA membrane signal SAX-7/L1CAM and the PVD receptor SAX-3/Robo but independent of Slit. L1CAM physically interacts with Robo and instructs dendrite adhesion in a Robo-dependent manner. Fasciculation mediated by L1CAM-Robo signaling aligns F-actin dynamics in the dendrite growth cone and facilitates dynamic growth cone behaviors for efficient dendrite guidance. Disruption of PVD dendrite fasciculation impairs nociceptive mechanosensation and rhythmicity in body curvature, suggesting that dendrite fasciculation governs the functions of mechanosensory circuits. Our work elucidates the molecular mechanisms by which adhesive axon-dendrite signaling shapes the construction and function of sensory neuronal circuits