TY - JOUR
T1 - The population tracking model
T2 - a simple, scalable statistical model for neural population data
AU - O'Donnell, Cian
AU - Goncalves, J Tiago
AU - Whiteley, Nick P
AU - Portera-Cailliau, Carlos
AU - Sejnowski, Terrence J
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Our understanding of neural population coding has been limited by a lack of analysis methods to characterize spiking data from large populations. The biggest challenge comes from the fact that the number of possible network activity patterns scales exponentially with the number of neurons recorded (~ 2Neurons). Here we introduce a new statistical method for characterizing neural population activity that requires semi-independent fitting of only as many parameters as the square of the number of neurons, so requiring drastically smaller data sets and minimal computation time. The model works by matching the population rate (the number of neurons synchronously active) and the probability that each individual neuron fires given the population rate. We found that this model can accurately fit synthetic data from up to 1000 neurons. We also found that the model could rapidly decode visual stimuli from neural population data from macaque primary visual cortex, ~ 65 ms after stimulus onset. Finally, we used the model to estimate the entropy of neural population activity in developing mouse matosensory cortex and surprisingly found that it first increases, then decreases during development. This statistical model opens new options for interrogating neural population data, and can bolster the use of modern large-scale in vivo Ca2+ and voltage imaging tools.
AB - Our understanding of neural population coding has been limited by a lack of analysis methods to characterize spiking data from large populations. The biggest challenge comes from the fact that the number of possible network activity patterns scales exponentially with the number of neurons recorded (~ 2Neurons). Here we introduce a new statistical method for characterizing neural population activity that requires semi-independent fitting of only as many parameters as the square of the number of neurons, so requiring drastically smaller data sets and minimal computation time. The model works by matching the population rate (the number of neurons synchronously active) and the probability that each individual neuron fires given the population rate. We found that this model can accurately fit synthetic data from up to 1000 neurons. We also found that the model could rapidly decode visual stimuli from neural population data from macaque primary visual cortex, ~ 65 ms after stimulus onset. Finally, we used the model to estimate the entropy of neural population activity in developing mouse matosensory cortex and surprisingly found that it first increases, then decreases during development. This statistical model opens new options for interrogating neural population data, and can bolster the use of modern large-scale in vivo Ca2+ and voltage imaging tools.
U2 - 10.1162/NECO_a_00910
DO - 10.1162/NECO_a_00910
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
C2 - 27870612
SN - 0899-7667
VL - 29
SP - 50
EP - 93
JO - Neural Computation
JF - Neural Computation
IS - 1
ER -