Topic: latent states

Behavior relies on the ability of sensory systems to infer changing properties of the environment from incoming sensory stimuli. However, the demands that detecting and adjusting to changes in the environment place on a sensory system often differ from the demands associated with performing a specific behavioral task. This necessitates neural coding strategies that can dynamically balance these conflicting needs. I will discuss our ongoing theoretical work to understand how this balance can best be achieved. We connect ideas from efficient coding and Bayesian inference to ask how sensory syste

Behavior relies on the ability of sensory systems to infer changing properties of the environment from incoming sensory stimuli. However, the demands that detecting and adjusting to changes in the environment place on a sensory system often differ from the demands associated with performing a specific behavioral task. This necessitates neural coding strategies that can dynamically balance these conflicting needs. I will discuss our ongoing theoretical work to understand how this balance can best be achieved. We connect ideas from efficient coding and Bayesian inference to ask how sensory syste