Function of identified interneurons in the leech elucidated using neural networks trained by back-propagation

Mechanical stimulation of the body surface of the leech causes a localized withdrawal from dorsal, ventral and lateral stimuli. The pathways from sensory to motor neurons in the reflex include at least one interneuron. We have identified a subset of interneurons contributing to the reflex by intracellular recording, and our analysis of interneuron input and output connections suggests a network in which most interneurons respond to more than one sensory input, most have effects on all motor neurons and in which each form of the behaviour is produced by appropriate and inappropriate effects of many interneurons. To determine whether interneurons of this type can account for the behaviour, or whether additional types are required, model networks were trained by back-propagation to reproduce the physiologically determined input-output function of the reflex. Quantitative comparisons of model and actual connection strengths show that model interneurons are similar to real ones. Consequently, the identified subset of interneurons could control local bending as part of a distributed processing network in which each form of the behaviour is produced by the appropriate and inappropriate effects of many interneurons.