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Cortical Spike Synchrony as a Measure of Input Familiarity
Clemens Korndörfer1, Ekkehard Ullner2, Jordi García-Ojalvo3
1Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, 49074 Osnabrück, Germany ckorndoe@uni-osnabrueck.de.
Neural Computation
|June 10, 2017
Summary
Spike synchrony in the cortex may not just bind stimuli, but rather signal the probability of incoming information. This suggests synchrony reflects learned patterns with high prior probability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- Spike synchrony is observed in cortical areas during perception, action, and memory tasks.
- A prevailing theory suggests synchrony facilitates stimulus binding.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose an alternative function for spike synchrony.
- To investigate spike synchrony as a measure of stimulus prior probability.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing pulse-coupled excitatory spiking networks in a simulated noisy environment.
- Analyzing the network's ability to generate stimulus-dependent spike synchrony.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated that such networks can generate stimulus-dependent spike synchrony.
- Showed that synchrony allows for rapid estimation of input match with network's encoded history.
Conclusions:
- Spike synchrony may serve as a general mechanism to estimate stimulus prior probability.
- Cortical spike synchrony could indicate input patterns resembling long-term experience or high-probability events.
