Information-theoretic interpretation of tuning curves for multiple motion directions

We have developed an efficient information-maximization method for computing the optimal shapes of tuning curves of sensory neurons by optimizing the parameters of the underlying feedforward network model. When applied to the problem of population coding of visual motion with multiple directions, our method yields several types of tuning curves with both symmetric and asymmetric shapes that resemble what have been found in the visual cortex. Our result suggests that the diversity or heterogeneity of tuning curve shapes as observed in neurophysiological experiment might actually constitute an optimal population representation of visual motions with multiple components.