Title:
Neocortical Keys and Locks: A Neural Model of Associative Learning by Coherence Induction Between Spike Patterns and Ongoing Membrane Potentials.

  by Doursat R, Goodman PH.

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 In vivo recordings suggest precise and reproducible temporal order in neural signals that underlie behavior. In par-ticular, neurons engaged in a perceptual or associative task seem to exhibit quick onsets of transitory correlations among firing patterns. Our numerical experiments show (i) the remarkable uniqueness of the transient response of a specific phase distribution L to a specific incoming spike pattern K, despite identical mean rates, (ii) the reproducibility of this unique response, and (iii) its sensitivity to variations in either pattern, K or L. Thus, there is evidence for distinct “key and lock” engagement, provided a sufficient diversity of lock combinations (analogous to the complexity of the tumbler of a safe). These preliminary observations based on phase-space dynamics offer a promising approach to future models of real-time pattern recognition and stimulus-response learning based on spiking neural networks, and may also explain, in part, rhythmic components of EEG recordings.
Posted on:21 May 2006