| |
Abstract:
Here we analyze synaptic transmission from an
information-theoretic perspective. We derive closed-form
expressions for the lower-bounds on the capacity of a simple model
of a cortical synapse under two explicit coding paradigms. Under
the ``signal estimation'' paradigm, we assume the signal to be
encoded in the mean firing rate of a Poisson neuron. The
performance of an optimal linear estimator of the signal then
provides a lower bound on the capacity for signal estimation. Under
the ``signal detection'' paradigm, the presence or absence of the
signal has to be detected (Yes-No task). Performance of the optimal
spike detector allows us to compute a lower bound on the capacity
for signal detection. We find that single synapses (for empirically
measured parameter values) transmit information poorly but
significant improvement can be achieved with a small amount of
redundancy.
|
