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STDP Forms Associations between Memory Traces in Networks of Spiking Neurons

Rao, Arjun; Pokorny, Christoph; Ison, Matias J; Legenstein, Robert; Maass, Wolfgang; Papadimitriou, Christos

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Authors

Arjun Rao

Christoph Pokorny

Robert Legenstein

Wolfgang Maass

Christos Papadimitriou



Abstract

Memory traces and associations between them are fundamental for cognitive brain function. Neuron recordings suggest that distributed assemblies of neurons in the brain serve as memory traces for spatial information, real-world items, and concepts. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding neural codes for associated memory traces. Some studies suggest the emergence of overlaps between assemblies during an association, while others suggest that the assemblies themselves remain largely unchanged and new assemblies emerge as neural codes for associated memory items. Here we study the emergence of neural codes for associated memory items in a generic computational model of recurrent networks of spiking neurons with a data-constrained rule for spike-timing-dependent plasticity. The model depends critically on 2 parameters, which control the excitability of neurons and the scale of initial synaptic weights. By modifying these 2 parameters, the model can reproduce both experimental data from the human brain on the fast formation of associations through emergent overlaps between assemblies, and rodent data where new neurons are recruited to encode the associated memories. Hence, our findings suggest that the brain can use both of these 2 neural codes for associations, and dynamically switch between them during consolidation.

Citation

Rao, A., Pokorny, C., Ison, M. J., Legenstein, R., Maass, W., & Papadimitriou, C. (2020). STDP Forms Associations between Memory Traces in Networks of Spiking Neurons. Cerebral Cortex, 30(3), 952-968. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhz140

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 9, 2019
Online Publication Date Aug 12, 2019
Publication Date Mar 14, 2020
Deposit Date Jun 23, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Cerebral Cortex
Print ISSN 1047-3211
Electronic ISSN 1460-2199
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 30
Issue 3
Pages 952-968
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhz140
Keywords Cognitive Neuroscience; Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4702728
Publisher URL https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/30/3/952/5547080

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