Localist neural plasticity identified by mutual information

We present a model of pattern memory and retrieval with novel, technically useful and biologically realistic properties. Specifically, we enter n variations of k pattern classes (n*k patterns) onto a cortex-like balanced inhibitory-excitatory network with heterogeneous neurons, and let the pattern spread within the recurrent network. We show that we can identify high mutual-information (MI) neurons as major information-bearing elements within each pattern representation. We employ a simple one-shot adaptive (learning) process focusing on high MI neurons and inhibition. Such ‘localist plasticity’ has high efficiency, because it requires only few adaptations for each pattern. Specifically, we store k=10 patterns of size s=400 in a 1000/1200 neuron network. We stimulate high MI neurons and in this way recall patterns, such that the whole network represents this pattern. We assess the quality of the representation (a) before learning, when entering the pattern into a naive network, (b) after learning, on the adapted network, and (c) after recall by stimulation. The recalled patterns could be easily recognized by a trained classifier. The recalled pattern ‘unfolds’ over the recurrent network with high similarity to the original input pattern. We discuss the distribution of neuron properties in the network, and find that an initial Gaussian distribution changes into a more heavy-tailed, lognormal distribution during the adaptation process. The remarkable result is that we are able to achieve reliable pattern recall by stimulating only high information neurons. This work provides a biologically-inspired model of cortical memory and may have interesting technical applications.