Sensory noise predicts divisive reshaping of receptive fields

Chalk, M., Masset, P., Gutkin, B., Deneve, S. (June 2017) Sensory noise predicts divisive reshaping of receptive fields. PLoS Comput Biol, 13 (6). e1005582. ISSN 1553-734x

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URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28622330
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005582

Abstract

In order to respond reliably to specific features of their environment, sensory neurons need to integrate multiple incoming noisy signals. Crucially, they also need to compete for the interpretation of those signals with other neurons representing similar features. The form that this competition should take depends critically on the noise corrupting these signals. In this study we show that for the type of noise commonly observed in sensory systems, whose variance scales with the mean signal, sensory neurons should selectively divide their input signals by their predictions, suppressing ambiguous cues while amplifying others. Any change in the stimulus context alters which inputs are suppressed, leading to a deep dynamic reshaping of neural receptive fields going far beyond simple surround suppression. Paradoxically, these highly variable receptive fields go alongside and are in fact required for an invariant representation of external sensory features. In addition to offering a normative account of context-dependent changes in sensory responses, perceptual inference in the presence of signal-dependent noise accounts for ubiquitous features of sensory neurons such as divisive normalization, gain control and contrast dependent temporal dynamics.

Item Type: Paper
Subjects: organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > sensory feedback
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Kepecs lab
School of Biological Sciences > Publications
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: 16 June 2017
Date Deposited: 21 Jun 2017 20:14
Last Modified: 06 Jul 2021 18:50
PMCID: PMC5509365
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/35016

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