All aboard the Spike Train!

All aboard the Spike Train!

All aboard the Spike Train!

Experimental evidence has accumulated during the last few years which indicates that many biological neural systems use the timing of single action potentials (or “spikes“) to encode information
These experimental results from neurobiology have lead to the investigation of a third generation of neural network models which employ spiking neurons (or “integrate-and-fire neurons“) as computational units

Maass 1996

Cho and John are talking about the following article: Networks of spiking neurons: The third generation of neural network models

In this post the dialogue is realised by an interaction of virtual characters, for more information please check the page “Virtual characters

Cho

The whole idea of spike trains goes again to show that it’s not strictly analog or digital

Today 15:43

John

I begin to see what you mean

Today 15:43

Cho

A neuron is a very simple thing in that specific respect, but tries to make the most of it

Today 15:44

Cho

Just “on” or “off” doesn’t convey a lot of information, but furiously blinking all the time …🎇 

Today 15:44

John

Yes, like you said, that is like a telegraph, or more akin to code

Today 15:44   

Cho

Maybe, I’m not sure what the best analogy would be on a computational level

Today 15:45

John

So Sam made an analogy to early analog computing where you had rotating discs and balls

Today 15:45   

John

there could respond in real time and were much faster than digital computer back then

Today 15:45   

Cho

That might be an apt analogy, they needed to vary continuously with the stimulus

Today 15:46

Cho

spiking” more frequently with the intensity or orientation etc.         

Today 15:46

John

OK, so reasonable analogy then?

Today 15:46   

Cho

I guess … it is just like I said at the beginning: the questions kinda determine the answers

Today 15:47

John

So I’m abstracting too much? 😅

Today 15:48   

Cho

By imposing the framework of “either analog or digital”, yes  😅       

Today 15:48

John

I’ll try to convey some more nuance in the article then …

Today 15:49   

Cho

That would be nice, but I understand that it is very difficult to convey that to the general public

Today 15:50

John

Sure, glad you appreciate that, but we don’t need to give them the ultimate truth less than 1000 words

Today 15:51   

John

just show them a bit of what is going on, and then keep doing that, keep spiking …

Today 15:51   

Cho

Ha! ha! 🤣 But seriously, perhaps the best analogy for neural communication is human communication 😉

Today 15:52

John

I might use that analogy if you don’t mind! 🤔

Today 15:53   

Cho

Always happy to help!  😊                                                                        

Today 15:53

John

And I’ll be back for more, don’t worry! 😄

Today 15:53   

… Continue reading our conversations that are posted every Monday

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A continued stimulus, such as a state of tension, a light or a sound, produces a continued passage of sensory impulses to the central nervous system.

Adrian & Zotterman, 1926

Cho and John are talking about the following article:
Ask a Neuroscientist: What’s a spike train?

In this post the dialogue is realised by an interaction of virtual characters, for more information please check the page “Virtual characters

Cho

Yes, it makes little sense to just zoom in on one single neuron         

Today 15:43

John

Information and information processing is distributed over the whole brain?

Today 15:43

Cho

Well, not all of it all the time. Specific pathways and modules exist for specific types of information

Today 15:44

John

Such as the “visual pathway” and stuff like that?

Today 15:44   

Cho

That’s a good example. The retina already detects and filters some signals right at the beginning

Today 15:45

Cho

and then the associative cortex deals with the end product: there’s serial and parallel aspects at all levels.

Today 15:45

John

Ok, so “it’s complicated”, again 😟

Today 15:45   

Cho

I’m afraid so! If I am not mistaken Sam once told me about his artificial neural networks and I was quite shocked at their simplicity

Today 15:46

John

Simplicity? 🤔

Today 15:46   

Cho

Well, it is not just a simplistic model of how a neuron works, but also the networks were organized in a totally biologically implausible way

Today 15:47

John

So they forgot essential features?

Today 15:48   

Cho

More like essential constraints: not every neuron is connected to every other neuron! But that is what a lot of artificial networks do

Today 15:48

John

Oh, right, that is a major difference of course!

Today 15:49   

Cho

Now I think he did tell me that there were new developments, there always are, which organized things in a more reasonable way

Today 15:50

John

I think Sam is working with “spiking neural networks” nowadays?

Today 15:51   

Cho

That sounds promising. People tend to think neurons only fire now and then, but in fact they fire all the time

Today 15:52

John

What do you mean?🤔

Today 15:53   

Cho

It’s not like they send on one impulse and then just sit there, as long as you are hearing the sound, seeing the color, etc. they fire!

Today 15:53

John

Oh, ok, so there’s lots of spikes, not just one big yes or no signal?

Today 15:53   

Cho

Indeed, we normally speak of “spike trains”, more like a telegraphed message with lots of yesses and noes 😊

Today 15:54

John

OK, this is very helpful 😉

Today 15:54   

… Continue reading our conversations that are posted every Monday

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (4 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
Loading...

Related post

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“Young man, you don’t think I’m encountering constructive symbolism for the first time, do you? “Unplug”: free yourself from physicality, from the vulgar earthbound physicality, from the evils of civilization, from electricity, nerves, and so on. Isn’t that what this is? The association is crystal clear, I’d be tempted to say, perhaps even too obvious” (Kishon 1987)

read more
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You young badgers imagine that it would be enough to smear a pound of paint on the canvas and you’re already a modern painter. I would be willing to accept this abomination for a bad joke, if there was even the slightest humor behind it. But this here is an abracadabra! A nothing!

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