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Register a new userOn the Relation between Encoding and Decoding of Neuronal Spikes
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Authors
Shinsuke Koyama
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Neural coding is a field of study that concerns how sensory information is represented in the brain by networks of neurons. The link between external stimulus and neural response can be studied from two parallel points of view. The first, neural encoding refers to the mapping from stimulus to response, and primarily focuses on understanding how neurons respond to a wide variety of stimuli, and on constructing models that accurately describe the stimulus-response relationship. Neural decoding, on the other hand, refers to the reverse mapping, from response to stimulus, where the challenge is to reconstruct a stimulus from the spikes it evokes. Since neuronal response is stochastic, a one-to-one mapping of stimuli into neural responses does not exist, causing a mismatch between the two viewpoints of neural coding. Here, we use these two perspectives to investigate the question of what rate coding is, in the simple setting of a single stationary stimulus parameter and a single stationary spike train represented by a renewal process. We show that when rate codes are defined in terms of encoding, i.e., the stimulus parameter is mapped onto the mean firing rate, the rate decoder given by spike counts or the sample mean, does not always efficiently decode the rate codes, but can improve efficiency in reading certain rate codes, when correlations within a spike train are taken into account.
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A good understanding of how neurons use electrical pulses (i.e, spikes) to encode the signal information remains elusive. Analyzing spike sequences generated by individual neurons and by two coupled neurons (using the stochastic FitzHugh-Nagumo model), recent theoretical studies have found that the relative timing of the spikes can encode the signal information. Using a symbolic method to analyze the spike sequence, preferred and infrequent spike patterns were detected, whose probabilities vary with both, the amplitude and the frequency of the signal. To investigate if this encoding mechanism is plausible also for neuronal ensembles, here we analyze the activity of a group of neurons, when they all perceive a weak periodic signal. We find that, as in the case of one or two coupled neurons, the probabilities of the spike patterns, now computed from the spike sequences of all the neurons, depend on the signals amplitude and period, and thus, the patterns probabilities encode the information of the signal. We also find that the resonances with the period of the signal or with the noise level are more pronounced when a group of neurons perceive the signal, in comparison with when only one or two coupled neurons perceive it. Neuronal coupling is beneficial for signal encoding as a group of neurons is able to encode a small-amplitude signal, which could not be encoded when it is perceived by just one or two coupled neurons. Interestingly, we find that for a group of neurons, just a few connections with one another can significantly improve the encoding of small-amplitude signals. Our findings indicate that information encoding in preferred and infrequent spike patterns is a plausible mechanism that can be employed by neuronal populations to encode weak periodic inputs, exploiting the presence of neural noise.
Volatility of financial stock is referring to the degree of uncertainty or risk embedded within a stocks dynamics. Such risk has been received huge amounts of attention from diverse financial researchers. By following the concept of regime-switching model, we proposed a non-parametric approach, named encoding-and-decoding, to discover multiple volatility states embedded within a discrete time series of stock returns. The encoding is performed across the entire span of temporal time points for relatively extreme events with respect to a chosen quantile-based threshold. As such the return time series is transformed into Bernoulli-variable processes. In the decoding phase, we computationally seek for locations of change points via estimations based on a new searching algorithm conjunction to the Bayesian information criterion applied on the observed collection of recurrence times upon the binary process. Besides the independence required for building the Geometric distributional likelihood function, the proposed approach can functionally partition the entire return time series into a collection of homogeneous segments without any assumptions of dynamic structure and underlying distributions. In the numerical experiments, our approach is found favorably compared with Viterbis under Hidden Markov Model (HMM) settings. In the real data applications, volatility dynamics of every single stock of S&P500 are computed and revealed. Then, a non-linear dependency of any stock-pair is derived by measuring through concurrent volatility states. Finally, various networks dealing with distinct financial implications are consequently established to represent different aspects of global connectivity among all stocks in S&P500.
Extracting activation patterns from functional Magnetic Resonance Images (fMRI) datasets remains challenging in rapid-event designs due to the inherent delay of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal. The general linear model (GLM) allows to estimate the activation from a design matrix and a fixed hemodynamic response function (HRF). However, the HRF is known to vary substantially between subjects and brain regions. In this paper, we propose a model for jointly estimating the hemodynamic response function (HRF) and the activation patterns via a low-rank representation of task effects.This model is based on the linearity assumption behind the GLM and can be computed using standard gradient-based solvers. We use the activation patterns computed by our model as input data for encoding and decoding studies and report performance improvement in both settings.
Neuronal firing activities have attracted a lot of attention since a large population of spatiotemporal patterns in the brain is the basis for adaptive behavior and can also reveal the signs for various neurological disorders including Alzheimers, schizophrenia, epilepsy and others. Here, we study the dynamics of a simple neuronal network using different sets of settings on a neuromorphic chip. We observed three different types of collective neuronal firing activities, which agree with the clinical data taken from the brain. We constructed a brain phase diagram and showed that within the weak noise region, the brain is operating in an expected noise-induced phase (N-phase) rather than at a so-called self-organized critical boundary. The significance of this study is twofold: first, the deviation of neuronal activities from the normal brain could be symptomatic of diseases of the central nervous system, thus paving the way for new diagnostics and treatments; second, the normal brain states in the N-phase are optimal for computation and information processing. The latter may provide a way to establish powerful new computing paradigm using collective behavior of networks of spiking neurons.
Fluorescent nanodiamonds (FND) are carbon-based nanomaterials that can efficiently incorporate optically active photoluminescent centers such as the nitrogen-vacancy complex, thus making them promising candidates as optical biolabels and drug-delivery agents. FNDs exhibit bright fluorescence without photobleaching combined with high uptake rate and low cytotoxicity. Focusing on FNDs interference with neuronal function, here we examined their effect on cultured hippocampal neurons, monitoring the whole network development as well as the electrophysiological properties of single neurons. We observed that FNDs drastically decreased the frequency of inhibitory (from 1.81 Hz to 0.86 Hz) and excitatory (from 1.61 Hz to 0.68 Hz) miniature postsynaptic currents, and consistently reduced action potential (AP) firing frequency (by 36%), as measured by microelectrode arrays. On the contrary, bursts synchronization was preserved, as well as the amplitude of spontaneous inhibitory and excitatory events. Current-clamp recordings revealed that the ratio of neurons responding with AP trains of high-frequency (fast-spiking) versus neurons responding with trains of low-frequency (slow-spiking) was unaltered, suggesting that FNDs exerted a comparable action on neuronal subpopulations. At the single cell level, rapid onset of the somatic AP (kink) was drastically reduced in FND-treated neurons, suggesting a reduced contribution of axonal and dendritic components while preserving neuronal excitability.
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