Temporal sequence learning in winner-take-all networks of spiking neurons demonstrated in a brain-based device.

Animal behavior often involves a temporally ordered sequence of actions learned from experience. Here we describe simulations of interconnected networks of spiking neurons that learn to generate patterns of activity in correct temporal order. The simulation consists of large-scale networks of thousands of excitatory and inhibitory neurons that exhibit short-term synaptic plasticity and spike-timing dependent synaptic plasticity.

Versatile networks of simulated spiking neurons displaying winner-take-all behavior.

We describe simulations of large-scale networks of excitatory and inhibitory spiking neurons that can generate dynamically stable winner-take-all (WTA) behavior. The network connectivity is a variant of center-surround architecture that we call center-annular-surround (CAS). In this architecture each neuron is excited by nearby neighbors and inhibited by more distant neighbors in an annular-surround region.

Auditory map reorganization and pitch discrimination in adult rats chronically exposed to low-level ambient noise.

Behavioral adaption to a changing environment is critical for an animal's survival. How well the brain can modify its functional properties based on experience essentially defines the limits of behavioral adaptation. In adult animals the extent to which experience shapes brain function has not been fully explored.

Why would Musical Training Benefit the Neural Encoding of Speech? The OPERA Hypothesis.

Mounting evidence suggests that musical training benefits the neural encoding of speech. This paper offers a hypothesis specifying why such benefits occur. The "OPERA" hypothesis proposes that such benefits are driven by adaptive plasticity in speech-processing networks, and that this plasticity occurs when five conditions are met.

Biology of consciousness.

The Dynamic Core and Global Workspace hypotheses were independently put forward to provide mechanistic and biologically plausible accounts of how brains generate conscious mental content. The Dynamic Core proposes that reentrant neural activity in the thalamocortical system gives rise to conscious experience. Global Workspace reconciles the limited capacity of momentary conscious content with the vast repertoire of long-term memory.