Unification of free energy minimization, spatiotemporal energy, and dimension reduction models of V1 organization: Postnatal learning on an antenatal scaffold

James Joseph Wright1,2 Paul David Bourke3
Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 14 October 2022.
DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2022.869268

1 Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
2 Department of Psychological Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
3 Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education. School of Social Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

Abstract

Developmental selection of neurons and synapses so as to maximize pulse synchrony has recently been used to explain antenatal cortical development. Consequences of the same selection process - an application of the Free Energy Principleare here followed into the postnatal phase in V1, and the implications for cognitive function are considered. Structured inputs transformed via lag relay in superficial patch connections lead to the generation of circumferential synaptic connectivity superimposed upon the antenatal, radial, "like-to-like" connectivity surrounding each singularity. The spatiotemporal energy and dimension reduction models of cortical feature preferences are accounted for and unified within the expanded model, and relationships of orientation preference (OP), space frequency preference (SFP), and temporal frequency preference (TFP) are resolved. The emergent anatomy provides a basis for "active inference" that includes interpolative modification of synapses so as to anticipate future inputs, as well as learn directly from present stimuli. Neurodynamic properties are those of heteroclinic networks with coupled spatial eigenmodes.

Keywords

free energy principle, spatiotemporal energy, dimension reduction, visual cortex, synchronous oscillation, apoptosis, cortical self-organization

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