Computing with Action Potentials

Most computational engineering based loosely on biology uses continuous variables to represent neural activity. Yet most neurons communicate with action potentials. The engineering view is equivalent to using a rate-code for representing information and for computing. An increasing number of examples are being discovered in which biology may not be using rate codes. Information can be represented using the timing of action potentials, and efficiently computed with in this representation. The “analog match” problem of odour identification is a simple problem which can be efficiently solved using action potential timing and an underlying rhythm. By using adapting units to effect a fundamental change of representation of a problem, we map the recognition of words (having uniform time-warp) in connected speech into the same analog match problem. We describe the architecture and preliminary results of such a recognition system. Using the fast events of biology in conjunction with an...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: NIPS
• Authors: John J. Hopfield, Carlos D. Brody, Sam T. Roweis
• Keywords: Action Potential Timing, Action Potentials, Most Computational Engineering, NIPS 1997, NIPS 2007