A Simple Coding Procedure Enhances a Neuron's Information Capacity

By Simon Barry Laughlin. 1981

Abstract The contrast-response function of a class of first order intemeurons in the fly's compound eye approximates to the cumulative probability distribution of contrast levels in natural scenes. Elementary information theory shows that this matching enables the neurons to encode contrast fluctuations most efficiently.

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Citations in the corpus

Normalization as a canonical neural computation (2011, background): “Normalization makes the photoreceptor responses shift accordingly, so that the responses to both images are simila”
The Operating Point of the Cortex: Neurons as Large Deviation Detectors (2007, background): “…pathways adaptation to the statistics of input signals ap- pears to establish an operating point that maximizes the transmission of information (Laughlin, 1981; Atick, 1992; van Hateren, 1992; Deweese, 1996; Baddeley et al., 1997; Smirnakis et al., 1997; Wainwright, 1999; Brenner et al.,…”
Olfactory information processing in Drosophila. (2009, unknown): “This has been investigated in the visual system, where an influential proposal is histogram equalisation, in which gain is high for input levels that occur frequently and low for inputs that are rarely seen [77].”
Functional mechanisms shaping lateral geniculate responses to artificial and natural stimuli. (2008, background): “Finally, a general model of fast adaptation will be invaluable to test specific hypotheses (Laughlin, 1981; Schwartz and Simoncelli, 2001; Van Hateren, 1993) about the function of adaptation in natural vision.”
Efficiency and ambiguity in an adaptive neural code (2001, background): “This can be understood from the structure of the interval distributions, which have three main features: (1) an exponential tail at long intervals; (2) a peak at a preferred interval; (3) a refractory `hole' at small intervals.”
Noise in the nervous system (2008, background): “This principle is especially helpful in dealing with sensory signals that, in the natural world, are highly structured and redundan”
Development of tinnitus‐related neuronal hyperactivity through homeostatic plasticity after hearing loss: a computational model (2006, methodology): “Moreover, we assume that AN rate-intensity functions are tuned to the distribution of sound intensities so that the ﬁring rates of the AN have maximum information on the sound intensity (infomax principle, Laughlin, 1981).”
Sequential and efficient neural-population coding of complex task information (2019, unknown): “We did not observe that individual neurons have statistically independent responses (Figures S5G–S5L), so in a strict sense our findings differ from being a fully efficient code, as well as the individual-neuron focus of a large body of related work (Atick and Redlich, 1992; Baddeley et al., 1997; D”
Independent component filters of natural images compared with simple cells in primary visual cortex (1998, background): “…et al. 1982; Atick 1992; van Hateren 1992a,b; Linsker 1993; Dong & Atick 1995; Dan et al. 1996), whereas it is known that the early visual system contains (e.g. Laughlin 1981; van Hateren 1997) and needs (e.g. Ruderman & Bialek 1994) stimulus-related nonlinearities that modify the linear default.”