Topic: coding fidelity

Neurons are typically sensitive to a small fraction of possible stimuli in sensory space. If the environment changes, making certain stimuli more prevalent, neurons sensitive to those stimuli respond more often and therefore have a higher average firing rate. Prolonged exposure to such an environment often causes such neurons to adapt by responding less vigorously. If adaptation consistently returns the average firing rate to its value prior to environmental shift, it is termed firing-rate homeostasis. We present a normative explanation of firing-rate homeostasis grounded in the Infomax princi