Gain modulation of recurrent networks

Abstract Gain modulation is an important mechanism by which attentional and other inputs modify the amplitude of neuronal responses without changing their selectivity. Gain modulation has been studied previously in feedforward circuits but not in recurrent neural networks. We show how gain modulation modifies the response of a recurrent network to feedforward inputs. Even modest gain modulation of the recurrent network can cause downstream neurons to switch from a state in which they are unresponsive to a stimulus to a state where they respond selectively. Funneling the recurrent connections of a network through gain modulated neurons allows the selectivity within the network to be modified by modulatory inputs.

[1]  L F Abbott,et al.  Transfer of coded information from sensory to motor networks , 1995, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[2]  E. Seidemann,et al.  Temporal gating of neural signals during performance of a visual discrimination task , 1998, Nature.

[3]  L F Abbott,et al.  Decoding neuronal firing and modelling neural networks , 1994, Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics.

[4]  R. Andersen,et al.  Head position signals used by parietal neurons to encode locations of visual stimuli , 1995, Nature.

[5]  D C Van Essen,et al.  Shifter circuits: a computational strategy for dynamic aspects of visual processing. , 1987, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[6]  C. Koch,et al.  Recurrent excitation in neocortical circuits , 1995, Science.

[7]  M. Goldberg,et al.  The representation of visual salience in monkey parietal cortex , 1998, Nature.

[8]  Rodney J. Douglas,et al.  Feedback interactions between neuronal pointers and maps for attentional processing , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[9]  T. Sejnowski,et al.  Spatial Transformations in the Parietal Cortex Using Basis Functions , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[10]  Carrie J. McAdams,et al.  Effects of Attention on Orientation-Tuning Functions of Single Neurons in Macaque Cortical Area V4 , 1999, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[11]  J K Hoober,et al.  Synthesis of Chlorophyllide b from Protochlorophyllide in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii y-1 , 1985, Science.

[12]  D. V. van Essen,et al.  Responses in area V4 depend on the spatial relationship between stimulus and attention. , 1996, Journal of neurophysiology.

[13]  Richard A. Andersen,et al.  A back-propagation programmed network that simulates response properties of a subset of posterior parietal neurons , 1988, Nature.

[14]  R. M. Siegel,et al.  Encoding of spatial location by posterior parietal neurons. , 1985, Science.

[15]  D. V. van Essen,et al.  A neurobiological model of visual attention and invariant pattern recognition based on dynamic routing of information , 1993, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.