The Chronotron: A Neuron That Learns to Fire Temporally Precise Spike Patterns
Open Access
- 6 August 2012
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 7 (8), e40233
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040233
Abstract
In many cases, neurons process information carried by the precise timings of spikes. Here we show how neurons can learn to generate specific temporally precise output spikes in response to input patterns of spikes having precise timings, thus processing and memorizing information that is entirely temporally coded, both as input and as output. We introduce two new supervised learning rules for spiking neurons with temporal coding of information (chronotrons), one that provides high memory capacity (E-learning), and one that has a higher biological plausibility (I-learning). With I-learning, the neuron learns to fire the target spike trains through synaptic changes that are proportional to the synaptic currents at the timings of real and target output spikes. We study these learning rules in computer simulations where we train integrate-and-fire neurons. Both learning rules allow neurons to fire at the desired timings, with sub-millisecond precision. We show how chronotrons can learn to classify their inputs, by firing identical, temporally precise spike trains for different inputs belonging to the same class. When the input is noisy, the classification also leads to noise reduction. We compute lower bounds for the memory capacity of chronotrons and explore the influence of various parameters on chronotrons' performance. The chronotrons can model neurons that encode information in the time of the first spike relative to the onset of salient stimuli or neurons in oscillatory networks that encode information in the phases of spikes relative to the background oscillation. Our results show that firing one spike per cycle optimizes memory capacity in neurons encoding information in the phase of firing relative to a background rhythm.Keywords
This publication has 85 references indexed in Scilit:
- Distinct coincidence detectors govern the corticostriatal spike timing-dependent plasticityThe Journal of Physiology, 2010
- Phase-dependent neuronal coding of objects in short-term memoryProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- Gain in sensitivity and loss in temporal contrast of STDP by dopaminergic modulation at hippocampal synapsesProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2009
- Noradrenergic Control of Associative Synaptic Plasticity by Selective Modulation of Instructive SignalsNeuron, 2009
- Regulation of spike timing in visual cortical circuitsNature Reviews Neuroscience, 2008
- A Role for Synaptic Inputs at Distal Dendrites: Instructive Signals for Hippocampal Long-Term PlasticityNeuron, 2007
- Neuromodulators Control the Polarity of Spike-Timing-Dependent Synaptic PlasticityNeuron, 2007
- Coactivation of Pre- and Postsynaptic Signaling Mechanisms Determines Cell-Specific Spike-Timing-Dependent PlasticityNeuron, 2007
- Coordinated memory replay in the visual cortex and hippocampus during sleepNature Neuroscience, 2006
- A neuronal learning rule for sub-millisecond temporal codingNature, 1996