Statistical analysis and optimality of neural systems

Młynarski, Wiktor; Hledík, Michal; Sokolowski, Thomas R.; Tkačik, Gašper

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2021.01.020

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 68 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Combined, our results develop a framework and provide support for the role of efficient neuronal coding in behavior. The efficient coding hypothesis has emerged as one of the leading principles in computational neuroscience that has shaped our understanding of neuronal coding, architecture and evolution 1,22,[76][77][78] . Prior research found that human behavior follows principles of efficiency 19,24 .…”

Section: The Missing Link Between Efficient Coding and Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Dynamics of cortical contrast adaptation predict perception of signals in noise

Angeloni

Młynarski

Piasini

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The efficient coding hypothesis postulates that neurons shape their response properties to match their dynamic range to the statistics of incoming signals. However, whether and how the dynamics of efficient neuronal adaptation inform behavior has not been directly shown. Here, we trained mice to detect a target presented in background noise shortly after a change in the background contrast. The observed changes in cortical gain and detection behavior followed the predictions of a normative model of efficient cortical sound processing; specifically, target detection and sensitivity to target volume improved in low contrast backgrounds relative to high contrast backgrounds. Additionally, the time course of target detectability adapted asymmetrically depending on contrast, decreasing rapidly after a transition to high contrast, and increasing more slowly after a transition to low contrast. Auditory cortex was required for detection of targets in background noise and cortical neuronal responses exhibited the patterns of target detectability observed during behavior and in the normative model. Furthermore, variability in cortical gain predicted behavioral performance beyond the effect of stimulus-driven gain control. Combined, our results demonstrate that efficient neural codes in auditory cortex directly influence perceptual behavior.

show abstract

Section: The Missing Link Between Efficient Coding and Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The efficient coding hypothesis has been formally implemented through normative models of brain function 3,4,[20][21][22][23] . These models assess whether and how neuronal adaptation shapes sensory information and simulate how such adaptation might constrain behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of cortical contrast adaptation predict perception of signals in noise

Angeloni

Młynarski

Piasini

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Comparisons To Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, multiple independent lines of work have begun formulating Bayesian approaches to bridge mechanistic and normative approaches to understanding biological structure [6,9,10]. Park and Pillow [9], M lynarski et al [10] are more suited to advancing our understanding of within-life adaptation and learning. Of particular relevance to our work presented here, Kilpatrick et al [6,7] extended classical optimal foraging theory with Bayesian updating to investigate optimal patch foraging strategies in both non-depleting and depleting patch environments.…”

Section: Comparisons To Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This idea has given rise to modeling evolution as an optimization process that maximizes an organism's fitness [4], i.e., selects for the phenotype parameters that maximize the fitness function. Fitness functions can range from relatively straightforward and concrete quantities, such as an organism's rate of producing offspring or the time it takes to find shelter or food [5][6][7][8], or they can be relatively abstract, such as the amount of information an organism's sensory organs convey to its nervous system [9][10][11][12]-the idea being that the more efficiently an organism's nervous system can process information it acquires about its environment, the more successful it will be at finding food, shelter, mates, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Evolution of innate behavioral strategies through competitive population dynamics

Liang

Baw

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Many organism behaviors are innate or instinctual and have been "hard-coded" through evolution. Current approaches to understanding these behaviors model evolution as an optimization problem in which the traits of organisms are assumed to optimize an objective function representing evolutionary fitness. Here, we use a mechanistic birth-death dynamics approach to study the evolution of innate behavioral strategies in a population of organisms in silico. In particular, we performed agent-based stochastic simulations and mean-field analyses of organisms exploring random environments and competing with each other to find locations with plentiful resources. We find that when organism density is low, the mean-field model allows us to derive an effective objective function, predicting how the most competitive phenotypes depend on the exploration-exploitation trade-off between the scarcity of high-resource sites and the increase in birth rate those sites offer organisms. However, increasing organism density alters the most competitive behavioral strategies and precludes the existence of a well-defined objective function. Moreover, there exists a range of densities for which the coexistence of many phenotypes persists for evolutionarily long times.

show abstract