1,325 research outputs found
Prediction and Generalisation over Directed Actions by Grid Cells
Knowing how the effects of directed actions generalise to new situations
(e.g. moving North, South, East and West, or turning left, right, etc.) is key
to rapid generalisation across new situations. Markovian tasks can be
characterised by a state space and a transition matrix and recent work has
proposed that neural grid codes provide an efficient representation of the
state space, as eigenvectors of a transition matrix reflecting diffusion across
states, that allows efficient prediction of future state distributions. Here we
extend the eigenbasis prediction model, utilising tools from Fourier analysis,
to prediction over arbitrary translation-invariant directed transition
structures (i.e. displacement and diffusion), showing that a single set of
eigenvectors can support predictions over arbitrary directed actions via
action-specific eigenvalues. We show how to define a "sense of direction" to
combine actions to reach a target state (ignoring task-specific deviations from
translation-invariance), and demonstrate that adding the Fourier
representations to a deep Q network aids policy learning in continuous control
tasks. We show the equivalence between the generalised prediction framework and
traditional models of grid cell firing driven by self-motion to perform path
integration, either using oscillatory interference (via Fourier components as
velocity-controlled oscillators) or continuous attractor networks (via analysis
of the update dynamics). We thus provide a unifying framework for the role of
the grid system in predictive planning, sense of direction and path
integration: supporting generalisable inference over directed actions across
different tasks.Comment: In Proceedings of ICLR 202
Actionable Neural Representations: Grid Cells from Minimal Constraints
To afford flexible behaviour, the brain must build internal representations
that mirror the structure of variables in the external world. For example, 2D
space obeys rules: the same set of actions combine in the same way everywhere
(step north, then south, and you won't have moved, wherever you start). We
suggest the brain must represent this consistent meaning of actions across
space, as it allows you to find new short-cuts and navigate in unfamiliar
settings. We term this representation an `actionable representation'. We
formulate actionable representations using group and representation theory, and
show that, when combined with biological and functional constraints -
non-negative firing, bounded neural activity, and precise coding - multiple
modules of hexagonal grid cells are the optimal representation of 2D space. We
support this claim with intuition, analytic justification, and simulations. Our
analytic results normatively explain a set of surprising grid cell phenomena,
and make testable predictions for future experiments. Lastly, we highlight the
generality of our approach beyond just understanding 2D space. Our work
characterises a new principle for understanding and designing flexible internal
representations: they should be actionable, allowing animals and machines to
predict the consequences of their actions, rather than just encode
Generalisation of structural knowledge in the hippocampal-entorhinal system
A central problem to understanding intelligence is the concept of
generalisation. This allows previously learnt structure to be exploited to
solve tasks in novel situations differing in their particularities. We take
inspiration from neuroscience, specifically the hippocampal-entorhinal system
known to be important for generalisation. We propose that to generalise
structural knowledge, the representations of the structure of the world, i.e.
how entities in the world relate to each other, need to be separated from
representations of the entities themselves. We show, under these principles,
artificial neural networks embedded with hierarchy and fast Hebbian memory, can
learn the statistics of memories and generalise structural knowledge. Spatial
neuronal representations mirroring those found in the brain emerge, suggesting
spatial cognition is an instance of more general organising principles. We
further unify many entorhinal cell types as basis functions for constructing
transition graphs, and show these representations effectively utilise memories.
We experimentally support model assumptions, showing a preserved relationship
between entorhinal grid and hippocampal place cells across environments
Disentangling with Biological Constraints: A Theory of Functional Cell Types
Neurons in the brain are often finely tuned for specific task variables.
Moreover, such disentangled representations are highly sought after in machine
learning. Here we mathematically prove that simple biological constraints on
neurons, namely nonnegativity and energy efficiency in both activity and
weights, promote such sought after disentangled representations by enforcing
neurons to become selective for single factors of task variation. We
demonstrate these constraints lead to disentangling in a variety of tasks and
architectures, including variational autoencoders. We also use this theory to
explain why the brain partitions its cells into distinct cell types such as
grid and object-vector cells, and also explain when the brain instead entangles
representations in response to entangled task factors. Overall, this work
provides a mathematical understanding of why, when, and how neurons represent
factors in both brains and machines, and is a first step towards understanding
of how task demands structure neural representations
Using diffusion tractography to predict cortical connection strength and distance: a quantitative comparison with tracers in the monkey
Tractography based on diffusion MRI offers the promise of characterizing many aspects of long-distance connectivity in the brain, but requires quantitative validation to assess its strengths and limitations. Here, we evaluate tractography's ability to estimate the presence and strength of connections between areas of macaque neocortex by comparing its results with published data from retrograde tracer injections. Probabilistic tractography was performed on high-quality postmortem diffusion imaging scans from two Old World monkey brains. Tractography connection weights were estimated using a fractional scaling method based on normalized streamline density. We found a correlation between log-transformed tractography and tracer connection weights of r = 0.59, twice that reported in a recent study on the macaque. Using a novel method to estimate interareal connection lengths from tractography streamlines, we regressed out the distance dependence of connection strength and found that the correlation between tractography and tracers remains positive, albeit substantially reduced. Altogether, these observations provide a valuable, data-driven perspective on both the strengths and limitations of tractography for analyzing interareal corticocortical connectivity in nonhuman primates and a framework for assessing future tractography methodological refinements objectively
Accelerating fibre orientation estimation from diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging using GPUs
With the performance of central processing units (CPUs) having effectively reached a limit, parallel processing offers an alternative for applications with high computational demands. Modern graphics processing units (GPUs) are massively parallel processors that can execute simultaneously thousands of light-weight processes. In this study, we propose and implement a parallel GPU-based design of a popular method that is used for the analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). More specifically, we are concerned with a model-based approach for extracting tissue structural information from diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI data. DW-MRI offers, through tractography approaches, the only way to study brain structural connectivity, non-invasively and in-vivo. We parallelise the Bayesian inference framework for the ball & stick model, as it is implemented in the tractography toolbox of the popular FSL software package (University of Oxford). For our implementation, we utilise the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) programming model. We show that the parameter estimation, performed through Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), is accelerated by at least two orders of magnitude, when comparing a single GPU with the respective sequential single-core CPU version. We also illustrate similar speed-up factors (up to 120x) when comparing a multi-GPU with a multi-CPU implementation
Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context
Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts
Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas
Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN
Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas
This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing
molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin
Genetic association analyses implicate aberrant regulation of innate and adaptive immunity genes in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a genetically complex autoimmune disease characterized by loss of immune tolerance to nuclear and cell surface antigens. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) had modest sample sizes, reducing their scope and reliability. Our study comprised 7,219 cases and 15,991 controls of European ancestry, constituting a new GWAS, a meta-analysis with a published GWAS and a replication study. We have mapped 43 susceptibility loci, including ten new associations. Assisted by dense genome coverage, imputation provided evidence for missense variants underpinning associations in eight genes. Other likely causal genes were established by examining associated alleles for cis-acting eQTL effects in a range of ex vivo immune cells. We found an over-representation (n = 16) of transcription factors among SLE susceptibility genes. This finding supports the view that aberrantly regulated gene expression networks in multiple cell types in both the innate and adaptive immune response contribute to the risk of developing SLE
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