Flip flops and toggles for effective decision making in neural circuits
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
15:00 UTC
Tim O'Leary
University of Cambridge
Recording
Open recording
Hosted by van Vreeswijk Theoretical Neuroscience Seminar
Abstract
Neural computation is inextricably bound to decisions that must be made under time pressure and uncertainty. At the level of neural circuits, single neurons need to decide whether to spike. On longer timescales, the component circuitry needs to decide whether to reconfigure to store memories and adapt to novel situations. In this talk I will focus on two fun ideas in each of these contexts by showing how nonlinearities in neural components naturally form excitable switches that enable reliable decisions to be made in fluctuating environments. I will also issue propaganda that the kind of high level, cognitive faculties that we normally associate with decision making apply equally well and are understudied at the level of neural and synaptic populations. Presented in the van Vreeswijk Theoretical Neuroscience Seminar series (formerly WWTNS) on 2024-04-17. Recording duration: 00:41:08.
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