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Peter J. Thomas
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Journal Articles
Publisher: Journals Gateway
Neural Computation (2023) 35 (6): 1028–1085.
Published: 12 May 2023
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Similar activity patterns may arise from model neural networks with distinct coupling properties and individual unit dynamics. These similar patterns may, however, respond differently to parameter variations and specifically to tuning of inputs that represent control signals. In this work, we analyze the responses resulting from modulation of a localized input in each of three classes of model neural networks that have been recognized in the literature for their capacity to produce robust three-phase rhythms: coupled fast-slow oscillators, near-heteroclinic oscillators, and threshold-linear networks. Triphasic rhythms, in which each phase consists of a prolonged activation of a corresponding subgroup of neurons followed by a fast transition to another phase, represent a fundamental activity pattern observed across a range of central pattern generators underlying behaviors critical to survival, including respiration, locomotion, and feeding. To perform our analysis, we extend the recently developed local timing response curve (lTRC), which allows us to characterize the timing effects due to perturbations, and we complement our lTRC approach with model-specific dynamical systems analysis. Interestingly, we observe disparate effects of similar perturbations across distinct model classes. Thus, this work provides an analytical framework for studying control of oscillations in nonlinear dynamical systems and may help guide model selection in future efforts to study systems exhibiting triphasic rhythmic activity.
Journal Articles
Publisher: Journals Gateway
Neural Computation (2020) 32 (10): 1775–1835.
Published: 01 October 2020
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Fox and Lu introduced a Langevin framework for discrete-time stochastic models of randomly gated ion channels such as the Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) system. They derived a Fokker-Planck equation with state-dependent diffusion tensor D and suggested a Langevin formulation with noise coefficient matrix S such that SS ⊤ = D . Subsequently, several authors introduced a variety of Langevin equations for the HH system. In this article, we present a natural 14-dimensional dynamics for the HH system in which each directed edge in the ion channel state transition graph acts as an independent noise source, leading to a 14 × 28 noise coefficient matrix S . We show that (1) the corresponding 14D system of ordinary differential equations is consistent with the classical 4D representation of the HH system; (2) the 14D representation leads to a noise coefficient matrix S that can be obtained cheaply on each time step, without requiring a matrix decomposition; (3) sample trajectories of the 14D representation are pathwise equivalent to trajectories of Fox and Lu's system, as well as trajectories of several existing Langevin models; (4) our 14D representation (and those equivalent to it) gives the most accurate interspike interval distribution, not only with respect to moments but under both the L 1 and L ∞ metric-space norms; and (5) the 14D representation gives an approximation to exact Markov chain simulations that are as fast and as efficient as all equivalent models. Our approach goes beyond existing models, in that it supports a stochastic shielding decomposition that dramatically simplifies S with minimal loss of accuracy under both voltage- and current-clamp conditions.
Journal Articles
Publisher: Journals Gateway
Neural Computation (2011) 23 (9): 2169–2208.
Published: 01 September 2011
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Neurons in sensory systems convey information about physical stimuli in their spike trains. In vitro, single neurons respond precisely and reliably to the repeated injection of the same fluctuating current, producing regions of elevated firing rate, termed events. Analysis of these spike trains reveals that multiple distinct spike patterns can be identified as trial-to-trial correlations between spike times (Fellous, Tiesinga, Thomas, & Sejnowski, 2004 ). Finding events in data with realistic spiking statistics is challenging because events belonging to different spike patterns may overlap. We propose a method for finding spiking events that uses contextual information to disambiguate which pattern a trial belongs to. The procedure can be applied to spike trains of the same neuron across multiple trials to detect and separate responses obtained during different brain states. The procedure can also be applied to spike trains from multiple simultaneously recorded neurons in order to identify volleys of near-synchronous activity or to distinguish between excitatory and inhibitory neurons. The procedure was tested using artificial data as well as recordings in vitro in response to fluctuating current waveforms.
Journal Articles
Publisher: Journals Gateway
Neural Computation (2002) 14 (3): 473–491.
Published: 01 March 2002
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Many observers see geometric visual hallucinations after taking hallucinogens such as LSD, cannabis, mescaline or psilocybin; on viewing bright flickering lights; on waking up or falling asleep; in “near-death” experiences; and in many other syndromes. Klüver organized the images into four groups called form constants : (I) tunnels and funnels, (II) spirals, (III) lattices, including honeycombs and triangles, and (IV) cobwebs. In most cases, the images are seen in both eyes and move with them. We interpret this to mean that they are generated in the brain. Here, we summarize a theory of their origin in visual cortex (area V1), based on the assumption that the form of the retino–cortical map and the architecture of V1 determine their geometry. (A much longer and more detailed mathematical version has been published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 356 [2001].) We model V1 as the continuum limit of a lattice of interconnected hypercolumns, each comprising a number of interconnected iso-orientation columns. Based on anatomical evidence, we assume that the lateral connectivity between hypercolumns exhibits symmetries, rendering it invariant under the action of the Euclidean group E(2), composed of reflections and translations in the plane, and a (novel) shift-twist action. Using this symmetry, we show that the various patterns of activity that spontaneously emerge when V1's spatially uniform resting state becomes unstable correspond to the form constants when transformed to the visual field using the retino-cortical map. The results are sensitive to the detailed specification of the lateral connectivity and suggest that the cortical mechanisms that generate geometric visual hallucinations are closely related to those used to process edges, contours, surfaces, and textures.