Optimal information transmission through cortico-cortical synapses

  • Authors:
  • Marcelo A. Montemurro;Stefano Panzeri

  • Affiliations:
  • Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK;Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

  • Venue:
  • ICANN'05 Proceedings of the 15th international conference on Artificial Neural Networks: biological Inspirations - Volume Part I
  • Year:
  • 2005

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Abstract

Neurons in visual cortex receive a large fraction of their inputs from other cortical neurons with a similar stimulus preference. Here we use models of neuronal population activity and information theoretic tools to investigate whether this arrangement of synapses allows efficient information transmission. We find that efficient information transmission requires that the tuning curve of the afferent neurons is approximately as wide as the spread of stimulus preferences of the afferent neurons reaching a target neuron. This is compatible with present neurophysiological evidence from visual cortex. We thus suggest that the organization of V1 cortico-cortical synaptic inputs allows optimal information transmission.