AI Article Synopsis

  • The clawed frog Xenopus uses 180 lateral-line organs to detect water waves from struggling insects, enabling it to locate and identify prey.
  • The ability to process information relies on detecting time differences from sensory input, making spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity (STDP) essential for neuronal function.
  • The study demonstrates how supervised STDP enables the frog to learn about its environment in darkness, suggesting learning can also result from a minimization principle.

Article Abstract

During the night 180 lateral-line organs allow the clawed frog Xenopus to localize prey by detecting water waves emanating from insects floundering on the water surface. Not only can the frog localize prey but it can also determine its character. This suggests waveform reconstruction, and a key question is how the frog can establish the appropriate neuronal hardware. Detecting time differences arising from the input on the skin is a key to neuronal information processing, and spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity (STDP) therefore seems to be the natural tool. We show how supervised STDP allows a frog to learn what is where in the dark. Learning can also be derived from a minimization principle.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.078106DOI Listing

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