Extrapolative delay compensation through facilitating synapses and its relation to the flash-lag effect.
Neural conduction delay is a serious issue for organisms that need to act in real time. Various forms of flash-lag effect (FLE) suggest that the nervous system may perform extrapolation to compensate for delay. For example, in motion FLE, the position of a moving object is perceived to be ahead of a brief flash when they are actually colocalized. However, the precise mechanism for extrapolation at a single-neuron level has not been fully investigated. Our hypothesis is that facilitating synapses, with their dynamic sensitivity to the rate of change in the input, can serve as a neural basis for extrapolation. To test this hypothesis, we constructed and tested models of facilitating dynamics. First, we derived a spiking neuron model of facilitating dynamics at a single-neuron level, and tested it in the luminance FLE domain. Second, the spiking neuron model was extended to include multiple neurons and spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), and was tested with orientation FLE. The results showed a strong relationship between delay compensation, FLE, and facilitating synapses/STDP. The results are expected to shed new light on real time and predictive processing in the brain, at the single neuron level.
Lim
Heejin
H
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA. hjlim@cs.tamu.edu
Choe
Yoonsuck
Y
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors