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Rotational dynamics reduce interference between sensory and memory representations (2021) Libby & Buschman

Discussion in 'Other health news and research' started by Colin, Apr 18, 2021.

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  1. Colin

    Colin Established Member (Voting Rights)

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    Abstract

    Cognition depends on integrating sensory percepts with the memory of recent stimuli. However, the distributed nature of neural coding can lead to interference between sensory and memory representations. Here, we show that the brain mitigates such interference by rotating sensory representations into orthogonal memory representations over time. To study how sensory inputs and memories are represented, we recorded neurons from the auditory cortex of mice as they implicitly learned sequences of sounds. We found that the neural population represented sensory inputs and the memory of recent stimuli in two orthogonal dimensions. The transformation of sensory information into a memory was facilitated by a combination of ‘stable’ neurons, which maintained their selectivity over time, and ‘switching’ neurons, which inverted their selectivity over time. Together, these neural responses rotated the population representation, transforming sensory inputs into memory. Theoretical modeling showed that this rotational dynamic is an efficient mechanism for generating orthogonal representations, thereby protecting memories from sensory interference.

    Paywall: Nature Neuroscience

    Popular article: The Brain ‘Rotates’ Memories to Save Them From New Sensations
     
    Michelle, DokaGirl and Peter Trewhitt like this.
  2. Colin

    Colin Established Member (Voting Rights)

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    This might be off-topic but it does seem to me to be of interest regarding brain fog. If the "switching" neurons in this amazing, orthogonal, memory-coding system were somehow interfered with, short-term memory would, presumably, suffer. And with the short-term memory also stored in the sensory regions of the brain, might also a failure, or impedence, be capable of producing its own peculiar sensation?

    I feel I'm just asking to be schooled by J. E.; but I could well immediately forget all about it, so that's alright then.
     
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  3. Jonathan Edwards

    Jonathan Edwards Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I don't quite understand what they are claiming but it is an interesting thing to flag up!
     
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  4. Jonathan Edwards

    Jonathan Edwards Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I need to access the full paper through college but I think there is something very interesting here. It is the sort of thing David Poeppel has worked on.

    The impression tends to be given that 'maps' of cell responses in brain tissue are 'representations' like ordinary maps or pictures, which they cannot be. The meaning of a signal from a cell is a sentence, not a dot. But that suggests that the auditory area arranges at right angles statements that are:

    "I am hearing a mousy squeak"

    and

    "That has previously made a mousy squeak"

    I don't think this has anything to do with dimensions in space, since it does not matter to nerve connectivity where the cells are spatially, but it may show an orthogonality in meaning space - whatever that may turn out to be like.
     
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