Active dendrites: Adaptation to spike-based communication

Balázs B. Ujfalussy*, Máté Lengyel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Book/Report typesConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Computational analyses of dendritic computations often assume stationary inputs to neurons, ignoring the pulsatile nature of spike-based communication between neurons and the moment-to-moment fluctuations caused by such spiking inputs. Conversely, circuit computations with spiking neurons are usually formalized without regard to the rich nonlinear nature of dendritic processing. Here we address the computational challenge faced by neurons that compute and represent analogue quantities but communicate with digital spikes, and show that reliable computation of even purely linear functions of inputs can require the interplay of strongly nonlinear subunits within the postsynaptic dendritic tree.Our theory predicts a matching of dendritic nonlinearities and synaptic weight distributions to the joint statistics of presynaptic inputs. This approach suggests normative roles for some puzzling forms of nonlinear dendritic dynamics and plasticity.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvances in Neural Information Processing Systems 24
Subtitle of host publication25th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2011, NIPS 2011
PublisherNeural Information Processing Systems
ISBN (Print)9781618395993
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes
Event25th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2011, NIPS 2011 - Granada, Spain
Duration: 12 Dec 201114 Dec 2011

Publication series

NameAdvances in Neural Information Processing Systems 24: 25th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2011, NIPS 2011

Conference

Conference25th Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems 2011, NIPS 2011
Country/TerritorySpain
CityGranada
Period12/12/1114/12/11

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