For questions about mathematical and computational neuroscience.
6
votes
1answer
39 views
In a central pattern generator based on reciprocal inhibition, how does one “side” get picked over the other to start out?
Consider two neurons, A and B, which reciprocally inhibit each other. If both of the neurons receive input at the same time, it seems to me that no oscillation will occur between the two. Such would ...
7
votes
0answers
38 views
Have there been any mechanisms proposed for normalization in probabilistic population codes?
I heard a talk yesterday by Dora Angelaki about multi-sensory integration. Part of the talk was about bayesian inference with multiple noisy sources of information. I know that there has been a lot ...
9
votes
1answer
67 views
Can we draw conclusions about content of thoughts from neural firing patterns?
Can the neural firing patterns of animals be associated with specific kinds of thoughts? (ie Thoughts related to food, mating, or neighborly aggression?)
I am curious about the speculations in ...
2
votes
0answers
33 views
How much information does the somatosensory system produce?
Are there any approximations of how many bits of information human somatosensory system produces? Especially mechano-receptors as measured in average number of bits per area of skin per second?
I've ...
7
votes
4answers
505 views
Difference between parallel processing done by human brain and by computers
I am asking a question regarding parallel processing as done by billions of Neurons inside our brain and parallel processing done by our computers in a cluster for example or even on a Graphics ...
4
votes
0answers
48 views
How can I test whether Dorsal Raphe Nucleus(DRN) activity at night is related to variations in mood?
I'm reading this paper, which discusses Serotonin activity in the Dorsal Ralphe Nucleus(DRN), and even includes some mathematical models of how serotonin is released and reabsorbed. The paper states ...
15
votes
3answers
4k views
Why would the brain flip the images perceived by your eyes?
The following is a common scientific statement, which you don't have to google long for to find:
The eye views images upside-down in the manner of a camera lens, but
our brains reinterpret this ...
12
votes
2answers
492 views
Applications of computational learning theory in the cognitive sciences
Computational learning theory (CoLT) is a branch of theoretical computer science associated with the mathematical analysis of machine learning. A lot of the early ideas of the field take inspiration ...
7
votes
1answer
105 views
How can STDP fit with reciprocal connectivity?
I have rather technical question regarding STDP dynamics.
I am working on a neural network implementing an STDP learning algorithm, and have noticed that it is extremely anti-reciprocal. When two ...
7
votes
1answer
196 views
References for biologically plausible models of knowledge representation?
I'm looking for references that deal with the issue of how various kinds of semantic knowledge is (or might be) neurally represented. Most of the discussion of this topic seems skewed by social ...
14
votes
1answer
383 views
What is an effective metric of complexity for an Artificial Neural Network?
After asking the question What is the most complex neural network... I realized I don't really have a good metric of "complexity" in a general sense. The simplest measure would likely be count of ...
17
votes
2answers
896 views
Neural networks with biologically plausible accounts of neurogenesis
One of the reasons artificial neural net algorithms like cascade correlation (pdf) have been generating interest is because they start with a minimal topology (just input and output unit) and recruit ...
12
votes
1answer
205 views
Computational models of early learning in children
What are currently used biologically plausible computational models/frameworks of early learning in children?
Personally, I have used cascade correlation neural nets to model pronoun acquisition ...
11
votes
2answers
205 views
How are newly created neurons recruited into existing networks?
As far as I understand, the basics of neurogenesis (abstracted down to the level that makes sense to a computer scientist) is as follows:
Neural progenitor cells differentiate into new neurons that ...
9
votes
1answer
125 views
Is there evidence that STDP is responsible for the ability to infer causation?
Spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) is a property of synapses that modifies their efficacy based on timing relationships between action potentials in the pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neuron. A ...
6
votes
2answers
303 views
In what ways can neurons fire randomly?
When developing a model of a biologically-plausible neural network, it is important to know all the circumstances under which neurons can fire. But, I am limiting this question to random firing. In ...
6
votes
1answer
164 views
How does neural spiking begin in the fetus?
I'm interested in modeling human brain spiking activity. How does the very first spiking activity begin in the fetus?
I imagine all spiking activity is initiated by the senses and internal ...
10
votes
2answers
380 views
Biological plausibility of bayesian models of cognition
Inspired by this question: What are drawbacks to probabilistic models of cognition?
I would like to know more about the biological plausibility of Bayesian models of cognition. Is there any neural ...
8
votes
1answer
124 views
What explains variability in the mean firing rate across biological neurons?
Biological neurons have a trade-off between high information transfer (high firing rate) and energy conservation (low firing rate). One would suspect that the maximization of this function has a ...
8
votes
1answer
91 views
What is the role of traveling waves in circuit formation during cortical development?
Propagating waves of activity have been characterized in various regions of the brain such as the visual cortex (Nauhaus et al., 2012). Recently they have been reported for the first time to occur ...
10
votes
2answers
397 views
What are current neuronal explanations and models of 'consciousness'?
I would like to understand more about consciousness from a neuroscientific perspective. I have a limited understanding of it in the philosophical/psychological sense through lectures.
Although it is ...
8
votes
3answers
306 views
What are the key examples of the use of computational methods in the study of biological neural networks?
In an upcoming postdoc, I'm going to be looking through biological neural network data in the hopes of finding some interesting "patterns". I'm coming at this field from a mathematics/computer ...
7
votes
1answer
87 views
Can processing effort for sub-tasks in neural networks be measured?
I often heard statements like:
80% of your brain processing is computing the effect of gravity
or, similarily:
You only use 20% of your brain power
My question isn't about the truth of ...
5
votes
1answer
113 views
Hebbian Learning Rule, Local or Global?
I just learned about the Hebbian Learning Rule. It essentially says "Neurons that fire together, wire together". I'm wondering if the learning rule is affected by the spatial distance of the two ...
8
votes
1answer
106 views
Computational Model Linking Neural Activity to Behavior
A big question in neuroscience is how neural activity represents knowledge. We can use modelling to explore how different levels of neural activity- subthreshold currents, action potentials, local ...
