non-linear neuronal responses as an emergent property of afferent networks a case study of the locust lobula giant movement detector非线性神经元响应传入的凸显特性作为网络的一个案例研究蝗虫lobula巨大的运动探测器.pdfVIP

Non-Linear Neuronal Responses as an Emergent Property of Afferent Networks: A Case Study of the Locust Lobula Giant Movement Detector ´ 1 1 1,2 Sergi Bermudez i Badia *, Ulysses Bernardet , Paul F. M. J. Verschure ´ 1 SPECS - Laboratory for Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, 2 ICREA - Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avanc¸ats, Barcelona, Spain Abstract In principle it appears advantageous for single neurons to perform non-linear operations. Indeed it has been reported that some neurons show signatures of such operations in their electrophysiological response. A particular case in point is the Lobula Giant Movement Detector (LGMD) neuron of the locust, which is reported to locally perform a functional multiplication. Given the wide ramifications of this suggestion with respect to our understanding of neuronal computations, it is essential that this interpretation of the LGMD as a local multiplication unit is thoroughly tested. Here we evaluate an alternative model that tests the hypothesis that the non-linear responses of the LGMD neuron emerge from the interactions of many neurons in the opto-motor processing structure of the locust. We show, by exposing our model to standard LGMD stimulation protocols, that the properties of the LGMD that were seen as a hallmark of local non-linear operations can be explained as emerging from the dynamics of the pre-synaptic network. Moreover, we demonstrate that these properties strongly depend on the details of the synaptic projections from the medulla to the LGMD. From these observations w