Over the last several years, the use of machine learning (ML) in neuroscience has been rapidly increasing. Here, we review ML's contributions, both realized and potential, across several areas of systems neuroscience. We describe four primary roles of ML within neuroscience: 1) creating solutions to engineering problems, 2) identifying predictive variables, 3) setting benchmarks for simple models of the brain, and 4) serving itself as a model for the brain. The breadth and ease of its applicability suggests that machine learning should be in the toolbox of most systems neuroscientists.
Figure 1: Growth of Machine Learning in Neuroscience.Here we plot the proportion of neuroscience papers that have used ML over the last two decades. That is, we calculate the number of papers involving both neuroscience and machine learning, normalized by the total number of neuroscience papers. Neuroscience papers were identified using a search for "neuroscience" on Semantic Scholar. Papers involving neuroscience and machine learning were identified with a search for "machine learning" and "neuroscience" on Semantic Scholar.On the highest level, ML is typically divided into the subtypes of supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning. Supervised learning builds a model that predicts outputs from input data. Unsupervised learning is concerned with finding structure in data, e.g. clustering, dimensionality reduction, and compression. Reinforcement learning allows a system to learn the best actions based on the reward that occurs at an end of a sequence of actions. This review focuses on supervised learning.Why is creating progressively more accurate regression or classification methods (see Box 1) worthy of a title like 'The AI Revolution' (Appenzeller 2017) ? It is because countless questions can be framed in this manner. When classifying images, an input picture can be used to predict the object in the picture. When playing a game, the setup of the board (input) can be used to predict an optimal move (output). When texting on our smartphones, our current text is used to create suggestions of the next word. Similarly, science has many instances where we desire to make predictions from measured data. Figure 2: Examples of the four roles of supervised machine learning in neuroscience.1 -ML can solve engineering problems . For example, it can help researchers control a prosthetic limb using brain activity. 2 -ML can identify predictive variables . For example, by using MRI data, we can identify which brain regions are most predictive for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (Lebedev et al. 2014) . 3 -ML can benchmark simple models . For example, we can compare the predictive performance of the simple "population vector" model of how neural activity relates to movement (Georgopoulos, Schwartz, and Kettner 1986) to a ML benchmark (e.g. an RNN). 4 -ML can serve as a model of the brain . For example, researchers have studied how neurons in the visual pathway correspond to units in an artificial network that is trained to classify images...