The optimal synapse for sparse, binary signals in the rod pathway.

Paul T Clark; Mark C W van Rossum

doi:10.1162/089976606774841530

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The optimal synapse for sparse, binary signals in the rod pathway.

Paul T Clark·Mark C W van Rossum

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Abstract

The sparsity of photons at very low light levels necessitates a nonlinear synaptic transfer function between the rod photoreceptors and the rod-bipolar cells. We examine different ways to characterize the performance of the pathway: the error rate, two variants of the mutual information, and the signal-to-noise ratio. Simulation of the pathway shows that these approaches yield substantially different performance at very low light levels and that maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio yields the best performance when judged from simulated images. The results are compared to recent data.

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Animals Contrast Sensitivity Dark Adaptation Humans Light Models, Neurological Neural Networks, Computer Photic Stimulation Photons Retinal Bipolar Cells Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells Sensory Thresholds Synapses Synaptic Transmission Vision, Ocular Visual Pathways Journal Article

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Paul T Clark, Mark C W van Rossum. 2006. The optimal synapse for sparse, binary signals in the rod pathway.. https://doi.org/10.1162/089976606774841530

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