Outputs (43)

Biases in neural population codes with a few active neurons (2025)
Journal Article
Keemink, S. W., & van Rossum, M. C. (in press). Biases in neural population codes with a few active neurons. PLoS Computational Biology, 21(4), Article e1012969. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012969

Throughout the brain information is coded in the activity of multiple neurons at once, so called population codes. Population codes are a robust and accurate way of coding information. One can evaluate the quality of population coding by trying to re... Read More about Biases in neural population codes with a few active neurons.

Competitive plasticity to reduce the energetic costs of learning (2024)
Journal Article
van Rossum, M. C. W., & Pache, A. (2024). Competitive plasticity to reduce the energetic costs of learning. PLoS Computational Biology, 20(10), Article e1012553. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012553

The brain is not only constrained by energy needed to fuel computation, but it is also constrained by energy needed to form memories. Experiments have shown that learning simple conditioning tasks which might require only a few synaptic updates, alre... Read More about Competitive plasticity to reduce the energetic costs of learning.

Reinforcement learning when your life depends on it: A neuro-economic theory of learning (2024)
Journal Article
Jiang, J., Foyardg, E., & van Rossumg, M. C. (2024). Reinforcement learning when your life depends on it: A neuro-economic theory of learning. PLoS Computational Biology, 20(10), Article e1012554. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012554

Synaptic plasticity enables animals to adapt to their environment, but memory formation can require a substantial amount of metabolic energy, potentially impairing survival. Hence, a neuro-economic dilemma arises whether learning is a profitable inve... Read More about Reinforcement learning when your life depends on it: A neuro-economic theory of learning.

Reinforcement learning when your life depends on it: a neuro-economic theory of learning (2024)
Preprint / Working Paper
Jiang, J., Foyard, E., & van Rossum, M. C. Reinforcement learning when your life depends on it: a neuro-economic theory of learning

Synaptic plasticity enables animals to adapt to their environment, but memory formation can consume a substantial amount of metabolic energy, potentially impairing survival. Hence, a neuro-economic dilemma arises whether learning is a profitable inve... Read More about Reinforcement learning when your life depends on it: a neuro-economic theory of learning.

Energetically efficient learning in neuronal networks (2023)
Journal Article
Pache, A., & van Rossum, M. C. (2023). Energetically efficient learning in neuronal networks. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 83, Article 102779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2023.102779

Human and animal experiments have shown that acquiring and storing information can require substantial amounts of metabolic energy. However, computational models of neural plasticity only seldom take this cost into account, and might thereby miss an... Read More about Energetically efficient learning in neuronal networks.

Competitive plasticity to reduce the energetic costs of learning (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
van Rossum, M. C. Competitive plasticity to reduce the energetic costs of learning

The brain is not only constrained by energy needed to fuel computation, but it is also constrained by energy needed to form memories. Experiments have shown that learning simple conditioning tasks already carries a significant metabolic cost. Yet, le... Read More about Competitive plasticity to reduce the energetic costs of learning.

Lazy learning: a biologically-inspired plasticity rule for fast and energy efficient synaptic plasticity (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
Pache, A., & Van Rossum, M. Lazy learning: a biologically-inspired plasticity rule for fast and energy efficient synaptic plasticity

When training neural networks for classification tasks with backpropagation, parameters are updated on every trial, even if the sample is classified correctly. In contrast, humans concentrate their learning effort on errors. Inspired by human learnin... Read More about Lazy learning: a biologically-inspired plasticity rule for fast and energy efficient synaptic plasticity.

Rule Abstraction Is Facilitated by Auditory Cuing in REM Sleep (2023)
Journal Article
Pereira, S. I. R., Santamaria, L., Andrews, R., Schmidt, E., Van Rossum, M. C., & Lewis, P. (2023). Rule Abstraction Is Facilitated by Auditory Cuing in REM Sleep. Journal of Neuroscience, 43(21), 3838-3848. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.1966-21.2022

Sleep facilitates abstraction, but the exact mechanisms underpinning this are unknown. Here, we aimed to determine whether triggering reactivation in sleep could facilitate this process. We paired abstraction problems with sounds, then replayed these... Read More about Rule Abstraction Is Facilitated by Auditory Cuing in REM Sleep.

Estimating the energy requirements for long term memory formation (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
Girard, M., Jiang, J., & van Rossum, M. C. Estimating the energy requirements for long term memory formation

Brains consume metabolic energy to process information, but also to store memories. The energy required for memory formation can be substantial, for instance in fruit flies memory formation leads to a shorter lifespan upon subsequent starvation (Mery... Read More about Estimating the energy requirements for long term memory formation.

Weight dependence in BCM leads to adjustable synaptic competition (2022)
Journal Article
Albesa-González, A., Froc, M., Williamson, O., & van Rossum, M. C. (2022). Weight dependence in BCM leads to adjustable synaptic competition. Journal of Computational Neuroscience, 50(4), 431-444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10827-022-00824-w

Models of synaptic plasticity have been used to better understand neural development as well as learning and memory. One prominent classic model is the Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro (BCM) model that has been particularly successful in explaining plasticit... Read More about Weight dependence in BCM leads to adjustable synaptic competition.