Tensor-powered insights into neural dynamics

Abstract The complex spatiotemporal dynamics of neurons encompass a wealth of information relevant to perception and decision-making, making the decoding of neural activity a central focus in neuroscience research. Traditional machine learning or deep learning-based neural information modeling appro...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Boyang Zang, Tao Sun, Yang Lu, Yuhang Zhang, Guihuai Wang, Sen Wan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-02-01
Series:Communications Biology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07711-x
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Summary:Abstract The complex spatiotemporal dynamics of neurons encompass a wealth of information relevant to perception and decision-making, making the decoding of neural activity a central focus in neuroscience research. Traditional machine learning or deep learning-based neural information modeling approaches have achieved significant results in decoding. Nevertheless, such methodologies require the vectorization of data, a process that disrupts the intrinsic relationships inherent in high-dimensional spaces, consequently impeding their capability to effectively process information in high-order tensor domains. In this paper, we introduce a novel decoding approach, namely the Least Squares Sport Tensor Machine (LS-STM), which is based on tensor space and represents a tensorized improvement over traditional vector learning frameworks. In extensive evaluations using human and mouse data, our results demonstrate that LS-STM exhibits superior performance in neural signal decoding tasks compared to traditional vectorization-based decoding methods. Furthermore, LS-STM demonstrates better performance in decoding neural signals with limited samples and the tensor weights of the LS-STM decoder enable the retrospective identification of key neurons during the neural encoding process. This study introduces a novel tensor computing approach and perspective for decoding high-dimensional neural information in the field.
ISSN:2399-3642