From synaptic errors to thalamocortical circuitry.
Recent data indicate that newly grown synapses in the brain are not guaranteed to innervate their desired target, but can form instead on nearby targets. Such 'errors' introduce representational inaccuracies but improve representational flexibility. Optimizing accuracy and flexibility requires detecting correlated activity and disabling plasticity, explaining the structure of the thalamocortical circuit.
Elliott
Terry
T
Dept of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Highfield, SO17 1BJ, Southampton, UK