Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Neural Netw. 2009 Oct;22(8):1071-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neunet.2009.07.011. Epub 2009 Jul 18.
The neocortex is a major component of the most sophisticated and economically significant computer in existence, nevertheless the organisation and operation of its computational circuit is not yet understood. Here we make some steps toward relating anatomical structure to computational function. We use methods of quantitative neuroanatomy to estimate the cortical circuit by defining the projection matrix between the various cells types of the neocortex of the cat, and then we consider the implications of this connectivity for cortical signal processing. Our analyses show that for a reasonable choice of the ratio between excitatory and inhibitory efficacy, the overall cortical circuit lies near the border of dynamical stability. We discuss a model of co-operative competitive processing that is consistent with the observed connectivity in the superficial layers of the cortex, and consider also how the topology of the overall cortical circuit could be configured dynamically through average inhibition.
大脑皮层是现存最复杂、最具经济价值的计算机的主要组成部分，然而其计算回路的组织和运作仍未被理解。在这里，我们朝着将解剖结构与计算功能相关联的方向迈出了一些步骤。我们使用定量神经解剖学的方法来估计大脑皮层的回路，通过定义猫大脑皮层不同细胞类型之间的投影矩阵，然后考虑这种连接对于皮质信号处理的影响。我们的分析表明，对于兴奋性和抑制性效能之间的合理比值选择，整个皮质回路接近动态稳定性的边界。我们讨论了一个与皮质浅层观察到的连接相一致的合作竞争处理模型，并考虑了通过平均抑制如何动态地配置整个皮质回路的拓扑结构。
