Topic: random synaptic connectivity

According to the efficient coding hypothesis, neural responses represent information so as to enable the most accurate readout possible, constrained by neuronal resources and neuronal noise. To date, much of the theoretical work on efficient neural coding has focused on relatively simple models of neural activity, characterized by smooth, often unimodal tuning curves. Real neurons, however, often exhibit more complex tuning curves. For instance, in the enthorinal cortex, the periodicity of grid cell tuning curves, as well as their functional organization in modules, imparts the population code

It is beyond doubt that cognitive phenomena such as language and reasoning are the direct product of the activity of neurons and synapses. Making progress on this open question, often called the bridging problem, was identified by Richard Axel as the most important challenge in neuroscience today. The research community must identify, from among the ever growing volume of neuroscientific knowledge a conceptual core of basic elements and principles which may suffice for bringing about the brain’s function. Here we describe such a minimalistic model of the brain, and we demonstrate its power by