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Updated: May 27, 2026

Closed-loop Neuro-robotic Experiments to Test Computational Properties of Neuronal Networks
Published on: March 2, 2015
Normalization as a canonical neural computation
Matteo Carandini1, David J Heeger
1UCL Institute of Ophtalmology, University College London, 11-43 Bath Street, London EC1V 9EL, UK. m.carandini@ucl. ac.uk
Abstract:
There is increasing evidence that the brain relies on a set of canonical neural computations, repeating them across brain regions and modalities to apply similar operations to different problems. A promising candidate for such a computation is normalization, in which the responses of neurons are divided by a common factor that typically includes the summed activity of a pool of neurons. Normalization was developed to explain responses in the primary visual cortex and is now thought to operate throughout the visual system, and in many other sensory modalities and brain regions. Normalization may underlie operations such as the representation of odours, the modulatory effects of visual attention, the encoding of value and the integration of multisensory information. Its presence in such a diversity of neural systems in multiple species, from invertebrates to mammals, suggests that it serves as a canonical neural computation.
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