Learning as filtering: Implications for spike-based plasticity.

Most normative models in computational neuroscience describe the task of learning as the optimisation of a cost function with respect to a set of parameters. However, learning as optimisation fails to account for a time-varying environment during the learning process and the resulting point estimate...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jannes Jegminat, Simone Carlo Surace, Jean-Pascal Pfister
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-02-01
Series:PLoS Computational Biology
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009721&type=printable
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Summary:Most normative models in computational neuroscience describe the task of learning as the optimisation of a cost function with respect to a set of parameters. However, learning as optimisation fails to account for a time-varying environment during the learning process and the resulting point estimate in parameter space does not account for uncertainty. Here, we frame learning as filtering, i.e., a principled method for including time and parameter uncertainty. We derive the filtering-based learning rule for a spiking neuronal network-the Synaptic Filter-and show its computational and biological relevance. For the computational relevance, we show that filtering improves the weight estimation performance compared to a gradient learning rule with optimal learning rate. The dynamics of the mean of the Synaptic Filter is consistent with spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) while the dynamics of the variance makes novel predictions regarding spike-timing dependent changes of EPSP variability. Moreover, the Synaptic Filter explains experimentally observed negative correlations between homo- and heterosynaptic plasticity.
ISSN:1553-734X
1553-7358