title: Chaos may enhance information transmission in the inferior olive.
abstract: Despite unique well characterized neuronal properties, such as extensive electrical coupling and low firing rates, the role of the inferior olive (IO), which is the source of the climbing fiber inputs to cerebellar Purkinje cells, is still controversial. We propose that the IO stochastically recodes the high-frequency information carried by its synaptic inputs into stochastic, low-rate spikes in its climbing fiber output. Computer simulations of realistic IO networks showed that moderate electrical coupling produced chaotic firing, which maximized the input-output mutual information. This "chaotic resonance" may allow rich error signals to reach individual Purkinje cells, even at low firing rates, allowing efficient cerebellar learning.
authors.affiliation: Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, 2-2-2, Hikaridai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan. nicolas@atr.co.jp
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schweighofer
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Doya
authors.forename: Hidekazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukai
authors.forename: Jean Vianney
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Chiron
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Mitsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawato
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D017629:Gap Junctions / Q000502:physiology; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D009847:Olivary Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology