Signatures of criticality in efficient coding networks

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Safavi, Shervin; Chalk, Matthew; Logothetis, Nikos K.; Levina, Anna
• 署名单位: Technische Universitat Dresden; Max Planck Society; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Sorbonne Universite; Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (Inserm); Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-9729
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2302730121
• 发表日期: 2024-10-08
• 关键词: avalanches

摘要

The critical brain hypothesis states that the brain can benefit from operating close to a second-order phase transition. While it has been shown that several computational aspects of sensory processing (e.g., sensitivity to input) can be optimal in this regime, it is still unclear whether these computational benefits of criticality can be leveraged by neural systems performing behaviorally relevant computations. To address this question, we investigate signatures of criticality in networks optimized to perform efficient coding. We consider a spike-coding network of leaky integrate- and-fire neurons with synaptic transmission delays. Previously, it was shown that the performance of such networks varies nonmonotonically with the noise amplitude. Interestingly, we find that in the vicinity of the optimal noise level for efficient coding, the network dynamics exhibit some signatures of criticality, namely, scale-free dynamics of the spiking and the presence of crackling noise relation. Our work suggests that two influential, and previously disparate theories of neural processing optimization (efficient coding and criticality) may be intimately related.