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Noisy neurons can certainly compute

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How do neurons combine separate pieces of information that are only partially reliable? Surprisingly, their noise properties may simplify the underlying computations while allowing them to maintain optimal performance.

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Figure 1: Optimal pooling of unreliable signals is simplified by Poisson noise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, 27157-1010, North Carolina, USA

    Emilio Salinas

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  1. Emilio Salinas
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Salinas, E. Noisy neurons can certainly compute. Nat Neurosci 9, 1349–1350 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1106-1349

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