Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tang, Mufeng, Barron, Helen, Bogacz, Rafal
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.01022
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917794127282176
author Tang, Mufeng
Barron, Helen
Bogacz, Rafal
author_facet Tang, Mufeng
Barron, Helen
Bogacz, Rafal
contents Grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) of the mammalian brain exhibit a strikingly regular hexagonal firing field over space. These cells are learned after birth and are thought to support spatial navigation but also more abstract computations. Although various computational models, including those based on artificial neural networks, have been proposed to explain the formation of grid cells, the process through which the MEC circuit ${\it learns}$ to develop grid cells remains unclear. In this study, we argue that predictive coding, a biologically plausible plasticity rule known to learn visual representations, can also train neural networks to develop hexagonal grid representations from spatial inputs. We demonstrate that grid cells emerge robustly through predictive coding in both static and dynamic environments, and we develop an understanding of this grid cell learning capability by analytically comparing predictive coding with existing models. Our work therefore offers a novel and biologically plausible perspective on the learning mechanisms underlying grid cells. Moreover, it extends the predictive coding theory to the hippocampal formation, suggesting a unified learning algorithm for diverse cortical representations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_01022
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Learning grid cells by predictive coding
Tang, Mufeng
Barron, Helen
Bogacz, Rafal
Neurons and Cognition
Grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) of the mammalian brain exhibit a strikingly regular hexagonal firing field over space. These cells are learned after birth and are thought to support spatial navigation but also more abstract computations. Although various computational models, including those based on artificial neural networks, have been proposed to explain the formation of grid cells, the process through which the MEC circuit ${\it learns}$ to develop grid cells remains unclear. In this study, we argue that predictive coding, a biologically plausible plasticity rule known to learn visual representations, can also train neural networks to develop hexagonal grid representations from spatial inputs. We demonstrate that grid cells emerge robustly through predictive coding in both static and dynamic environments, and we develop an understanding of this grid cell learning capability by analytically comparing predictive coding with existing models. Our work therefore offers a novel and biologically plausible perspective on the learning mechanisms underlying grid cells. Moreover, it extends the predictive coding theory to the hippocampal formation, suggesting a unified learning algorithm for diverse cortical representations.
title Learning grid cells by predictive coding
topic Neurons and Cognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.01022