#3: On the neural code – with Arvind Kumar

It is widely thought that spikes (action potentials) are the main carrier of information in the brain.

But what is the neural code, that is, what aspects of the spike trains carry the information? The detailed temporal structure or maybe only the average firing rate?  And is there information in the correlation between spike trains in populations of similar neurons?  

The guest has thought about these and other coding questions throughout his career.

Links to papers mentioned in the podcast:

  • Kumar et al: “Spiking activity propagation in neuronal networks: reconciling different perspectives on neural coding”, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2010
  • Lenninger et al.: “Are single-peaked tuning curves tuned for speed rather than accuracy?”, eLife, 2023

    • Home page of Arvind Kumar

    The podcast was recorded on August 2, 2023 and lasts 1 hour and 25 minutes.

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