An Information Theoretic Approach to Stimulus Processing in the Olfactory System II

神经生物学中的一个基本问题是外部刺激如何通过大脑中神经元的活动进行编码。一个新兴的原型模型系统，以解决这个问题是在神经网络的小鼠OB。对于一般的神经元来说，刺激具有毫伏每毫秒的尺寸，并且动作电位（尖峰）是编码和传播信息的唯一二进制手段。然而，刺激信息是如何被转换并包含在输出神经元的尖峰序列中的，仍然存在争议。OB的相对解剖简单性，OB网络内感觉和状态依赖性活动的组合计算，以及其直接作用，OB与皮层的连接（部分是相互的），绕过感觉丘脑，使OB成为研究感觉信息处理基本原理的一个有吸引力的模型。作为我们先前建议中详细描述的正在进行的研究的必然结果，我们现在的目标是扩展和细化信息理论模型的范围，以更紧密地匹配/描述小鼠OB模型中的神经元通信和网络处理。基于扩展通道模型的具体预测/假设将在神经生理学实验中进行系统研究，进而根据实验结果调整模型参数。虽然我们有意将自己局限于小鼠嗅觉系统，但我们希望所获得的结果可以在很大程度上推广到各种（神经）生物通信系统。根据当前资助期的研究逻辑，我们提出了一个多学科的战略，将集中在两个主要目标：A。神经生物学家将提供分析模型，以纯粹的数字基础模拟神经信息处理-我们希望这是一种创新的方法，有助于获得对大脑中控制感觉编码的原则规则的新见解。神经信息编码和传播是鲁棒的，能量有效的和高度容错的。尽管如此，神经网络是快速和有效的-技术通信系统中追求的功能。我们将利用我们的合作成果中产生的模型和分析，将生物启发的设计原理应用于通信领域，过去，通信领域在各种应用中取得了丰硕的成果。我们坚信，理论和实验方法的协同作用将大大推进我们对大脑计算的理解，同时，也将激发通信理论中的新想法。

A fundamental question in neurobiology is how external stimuli are coded by the activity of neurons in the brain. An emerging prototypical model system to address this question is in the neuronal network of the mouse OB. For neurons in general, stimuli have dimensions of millivolts per millisecond and action potentials (spikes) are the sole binary means of both encoding and propagating information. How exactly stimulus information is transformed and contained in spike trains of output neurons, however, remains controversial. The relative anatomical simplicity of the OB, the combined computation of sensory and state-dependent activity within the OB network, and its direct (and partly reciprocal) connection to the cortex, bypassing the sensory thalamus, render the OB an attractive model to study the basic principles of sensory information processing.As a corollary to the on-going research detailed in our previous proposal, we now aim to extend and refine the scope of information theoretic models to more closely match / describe neuronal communication and network processing in the mouse OB model. Specific predictions / hypotheses based on extended channel models will then be systematically investigated in neurophysiological experiments and, in turn, model parameters will be adapted according to experimental findings. While we intentionally confine ourselves to the mouse olfactory system, we expect that the obtained results can be largely generalized to a variety of (neuro)biological communication systems. Following the research logic of the current funding period, we propose a multi-disciplinary strategy that will focus on two major goals:A. Neurobiologists will be provided with analytical models to simulate neural information processing on a purely numerical basis - an innovative approach that we expect to be instrumental in gaining novel insights into the principle rules that govern sensory coding in the brain.B. Neural information coding and propagation is robust, energy efficient and highly error tolerant. Nonetheless, neural networks are fast and efficient - features sought after in technical communication systems. Using models and analyses that emerge from our collaborative efforts, we will adapt bio-inspired design principles to the field of communications, which in the past has turned out very fruitful for a variety of applications.We firmly believe that synergy from theoretical and experimental approaches will substantially advance our understanding of brain computations and, in parallel, fuel novel ideas in communication theory.