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Neural circuit mechanism for generating categorical representations

Nagaraj R. Mahajan, View ORCID ProfileShreesh P. Mysore
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2019.12.24.887810
Nagaraj R. Mahajan
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
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Shreesh P. Mysore
Departments of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins UniversityThe Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University
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  • ORCID record for Shreesh P. Mysore
  • For correspondence: shreesh.mysore@jhu.edu
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Abstract

Categorical neural representations underlie various forms of selection and decision-making. They promote robust signaling of the winner in the presence of input ambiguity and neural noise. Here, we show that a ‘donut-like’ inhibitory mechanism in which each competing option suppresses all options except itself is highly effective at generating categorical responses. It surpasses motifs of feedback inhibition, recurrent excitation, and divisive normalization used in decision-making models. We demonstrate experimentally not only that this mechanism operates in the midbrain spatial selection network in barn owls, but also that it is required for categorical signaling by it. Moreover, the pattern of inhibition forms an exquisitely structured ‘multi-holed’ donut consistent with this network’s combinatorial inhibitory function. Self-sparing inhibition may be a powerful circuit module central to categorical selection.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted December 24, 2019.
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Neural circuit mechanism for generating categorical representations
Nagaraj R. Mahajan, Shreesh P. Mysore
bioRxiv 2019.12.24.887810; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2019.12.24.887810
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Neural circuit mechanism for generating categorical representations
Nagaraj R. Mahajan, Shreesh P. Mysore
bioRxiv 2019.12.24.887810; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2019.12.24.887810

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