distributed dynamical computation in neural circuits with propagating coherent activity patterns分布式动力计算与传播神经回路连贯的活动模式.pdfVIP

Distributed Dynamical Computation in Neural Circuits with Propagating Coherent Activity Patterns Pulin Gong1,2,3*, Cees van Leeuwen3 1 School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 2 Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 3 Laboratory for Perceptual Dynamics, RIKEN, Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan Abstract Activity in neural circuits is spatiotemporally organized. Its spatial organization consists of multiple, localized coherent patterns, or patchy clusters. These patterns propagate across the circuits over time. This type of collective behavior has ubiquitously been observed, both in spontaneous activity and evoked responses; its function, however, has remained unclear. We construct a spatially extended, spiking neural circuit that generates emergent spatiotemporal activity patterns, thereby capturing some of the complexities of the patterns observed empirically. We elucidate what kind of fundamental function these patterns can serve by showing how they process information. As self-sustained objects, localized coherent patterns can signal information by propagating across the neural circuit. Computational operations occur when these emergent patterns interact, or collide with each other. The ongoing behaviors of these patterns naturally embody both distributed, parallel computation and cascaded logical operations. Such distributed computations enable the system to work in an inherently flexible and efficient way. Our work leads us to propose that propagating coherent activity patterns are the underlying primitives with which neural circuits carry out distributed dynamical computation. Citation: Gong P, van Leeuwen C (2009) Distributed Dynamical Computation in Neural Circuits with Propagating Coherent Activity Patterns. PLoS Comput Biol 5(12): e100061