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Computation with Population Codes

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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

Definition

Population coding is a computational theory postulating that information is represented and processed by a large number of neurons. In such a coding scheme, each neuron on its own encodes only a small amount of the information that is distributed across the population. Population coding provides robustness, because even if individual neurons are noisy or fail altogether, the population code still processes information effectively.

Detailed Description

Fundamentals of Computation

To understand how a population code computes, we will first start by describing the basics of computation by analyzing silicon-based computers. There are two essential ingredients to computation: representation and transformation. Information in computers is represented using discrete binary digits, called bits. A bit is often thought of as a “yes” or “no” response or a “1” or “0”. A bit represents two states and is the simplest form of information. A computer is built by utilizing a large number of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    E. Paxon Frady

  2. Division of Biology, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    William B. Kristan

Authors
  1. E. Paxon Frady
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  2. William B. Kristan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to E. Paxon Frady .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Frady, E.P., Kristan, W.B. (2014). Computation with Population Codes. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_335-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_335-3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Computation with Population Codes
    Published:
    03 June 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_335-3

  2. Original

    Computation with Population Codes
    Published:
    22 February 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_335-2

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