RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Spiking allows neurons to estimate their causal effect JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 253351 DO 10.1101/253351 A1 Lansdell, Benjamin James A1 Kording, Konrad Paul YR 2018 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/25/253351.abstract AB Learning aims at causing better performance and the typical gradient descent learning is an approximate causal estimator. However real neurons spike, making their gradients undefined. Interestingly, a popular technique in economics, regression discontinuity design, estimates causal effects using such discontinuities. Here we show how the spiking threshold can reveal the influence of a neuron’s activity on the performance, indicating a deep link between simple learning rules and economics-style causal inference.