Abstract
Some principles of information theory are utilized in the design of neural nets of the McCulloch-Pitts type. In particular, problems are considered where signals from several neurons must pass through a single one, thus resulting in a “bottleneck” in the flow of information, an abstract model of the corresponding bottleneck from the retina to the optic nerve. The first part of the paper deals with a construction of a McCulloch-Pitts net in which the redundancy in the messages originating in two neurons is utilized so that the messages can be sent over a single neuron with little loss of information. In the second part, messages from a set of neurons are “pumped” into two channel neurons. The optimum connection scheme is computed for this case, i.e, one resulting in a minimum loss of information. Possible biological implications of this approach are indicated.
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Rapoport, A. Application of information networks to a theory of vision. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 17, 15–33 (1955). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02481834
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02481834