. In a number of systems including wind detection in the cricket, visual motion perception and coding of arm movement direction in the monkey and place cell response to position in the rat hippocampus, firing rates in a population of tuned neurons are correlated with a vector quantity. We examine and compare several methods that allow the coded vector to be reconstructed from measured firing rates. In cases where the neuronal tuning curves resemble cosines, linear reconstruction methods work as well as more complex statistical methods requiring more detailed information about the responses of the coding neurons. We present a new linear method, the optimal linear estimator (OLE), that on average provides the best possible linear reconstruction. This method is compared with the more familiar vector method and shown to produce more accurate reconstructions using far fewer recorded neurons. Introduction To determine how information is represented by nervous systems, we need to understand ...

Population coding, where neurons with broad and overlapping firing rate tuning curves collectively encode information about a stimulus, is a common feature of sensory systems.We use decoding methods and measured properties of NMDA-mediated LTP induction to study the impact of long-term potentiation of synapses between the neurons of such a coding array. We find that, due to a temporal asymmetry in the induction of NMDA-mediated LTP, firing patterns in a neuronal array that initially represent the current value of a sensory input will, after training, provide an experienced-based prediction of that input instead. We compute how this prediction arises from and depends on the training experience. We also show how the encoded prediction can be used to generate learned motor sequences, such as the movement of a limb. This involves a novel form of memory recall that is driven by the motor response so that it automatically generates new information at a rate appropriate for the task being per...

Introduction Biological neural networks are large systems of complex elements interacting through a complex array of connections. Individual neurons express a large number of active conductances (Connors et al., 1982; Adams & Gavin, 1986; Llin'as, 1988; McCormick, 1990; Hille, 1992) and exhibit a wide variety of dynamic behaviors on time scales ranging from milliseconds to many minutes (Llin'as, 1988; Harris-Warrick & Marder, 1991; Churchland & Sejnowski, 1992; Turrigiano et al., 1994). Neurons in cortical circuits are typically coupled to thousands of other neurons (Stevens, 1989) and very little is known about the strengths of these synapses (although see Rosenmund et al., 1993; Hessler et al., 1993; Smetters & Nelson, 1993). The complex firing patterns of large neuronal populations are difficult to describe let alone understand. There is little point in accurately modeling each membrane potential in a large neural

. In a number of systems including wind detection in the cricket, visual motion perception and coding of arm movement direction in the monkey and place cell response to position in the rat hippocampus, firing rates in a population of tuned neurons are correlated with a vector quantity. We examine and compare several methods that allow the coded vector to be reconstructed from measured firing rates. In cases where the neuronal tuning curves resemble cosines, linear reconstruction methods work as well as more complex statistical methods requiring more detailed information about the responses of the coding neurons. We present a new linear method, the optimal linear estimator (OLE), that on average provides the best possible linear reconstruction. This method is compared with the more familiar vector method and shown to produce more accurate reconstructions using far fewer recorded neurons. Introduction To determine how information is represented by nervous systems, we need to understand...

Inspired by a visual motion detection model for the rabbit retina and by a computational architecture used for early audition in the barn owl, we have designed a chip that employs a correlation model to report the one-dimensional field motion of a scene in real time. Using subthreshold analog VLSI techniques, we have fabricated and successfully tested a 8000 transistor chip using a standard MOSIS process. 1. INTRODUCTION Most proposed short-range intensity-based motion detection schemes fall into two major categories: gradient models and correlation models. In gradient models, computation begins from local image qualities such as spatial gradients and temporal derivatives that can be vulnerable to noise or limited resolution. Correlation models, on the other hand, use a filtered version of the input intensity multiplied with the temporally delayed and filtered version of the intensity at a neighboring * Present address: John Lazzaro, University of Colorado at Boulder, Campus Bo...

Abstract not found

This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Ernesto Moos (1918-2001), whose courage and insight saved his family from the fate of his generation of European Jews, and in doing so gave me the gift of life. iv