Signal denoising through topographic modularity of neural circuits

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Abstract

Abstract Information from the sensory periphery is conveyed to the cortex via structured projection pathways that spatially segregate stimulus features, providing a robust and efficient encoding strategy. Beyond sensory encoding, this prominent anatomical feature extends throughout the neocortex. However, the extent to which it influences cortical processing is unclear. In this study, we combine cortical circuit modeling with network theory to demonstrate that the sharpness of topographic projections acts as a bifurcation parameter, controlling the macroscopic dynamics and representational precision across a modular network. By shifting the balance of excitation and inhibition, topographic modularity gradually increases task performance and improves the signal-to-noise ratio across the system. We demonstrate that in biologically constrained networks, such a denoising behavior is contingent on recurrent inhibition. We show that this is a robust and generic structural feature that enables a broad range of behaviorally-relevant operating regimes, and provide an in-depth theoretical analysis unravelling the dynamical principles underlying the mechanism.

Authors 4

1. Barna Zajzon Aachen Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics

   RWTH Aachen University · Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) and Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) and JARA-BRAIN Institute I, Jülich Research Centre, 52425 Jülich, Germany

2. David Dahmen

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) and Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) and JARA-BRAIN Institute I, Jülich Research Centre, 52425 Jülich, Germany

3. Abigail Morrison Aachen Department of Computer Science 3-Software Engineering Department of Computer Science - Software Engineering

   RWTH Aachen University · Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Computer Science 3 - Software Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) and Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) and JARA-BRAIN Institute I, Jülich Research Centre, 52425 Jülich, Germany

   Department of Computer Science - Software Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

4. Renato Duarte

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · Radboud University Nijmegen · Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

   Affiliation as printed

   Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) and Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) and JARA-BRAIN Institute I, Jülich Research Centre, 52425 Jülich, Germany