The Temporal Winner-Take-All Readout
Author Information
Author(s): Shamir Maoz, Friston Karl J.
Primary Institution: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Hypothesis
How can the central nervous system make accurate decisions about external stimuli at short times on the basis of the noisy responses of nerve cell populations?
Conclusion
The temporal Winner-Take-All (tWTA) mechanism can provide fast and accurate responses for discriminating between a small number of alternatives, but its accuracy is limited by noise correlations and baseline firing.
Supporting Evidence
- The tWTA mechanism estimates the stimulus based on the first spike of the fastest responding neuron.
- Baseline firing rates can negatively impact the accuracy of the tWTA readout.
- Noise correlations among neurons can limit the effective number of degrees of freedom in the network.
Takeaway
This study looks at how our brain quickly makes decisions based on signals from nerve cells, suggesting a method that helps it do this accurately, even when the signals are noisy.
Methodology
The study uses statistical models to analyze the accuracy of the tWTA readout mechanism in response to external stimuli.
Limitations
The accuracy of the tWTA is limited by noise correlations and baseline firing rates of neurons.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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