{"title":"Latent Space Bayesian Optimization With Latent Data Augmentation for Enhanced Exploration","authors":"Onur Boyar;Ichiro Takeuchi","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01708","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01708","url":null,"abstract":"Latent space Bayesian optimization (LSBO) combines generative models, typically variational autoencoders (VAE), with Bayesian optimization (BO), to generate de novo objects of interest. However, LSBO faces challenges due to the mismatch between the objectives of BO and VAE, resulting in poor exploration capabilities. In this article, we propose novel contributions to enhance LSBO efficiency and overcome this challenge. We first introduce the concept of latent consistency/inconsistency as a crucial problem in LSBO, arising from the VAE-BO mismatch. To address this, we propose the latent consistent aware-acquisition function (LCA-AF) that leverages consistent points in LSBO. Additionally, we present LCA-VAE, a novel VAE method that creates a latent space with increased consistent points through data augmentation in latent space and penalization of latent inconsistencies. Combining LCA-VAE and LCA-AF, we develop LCA-LSBO. Our approach achieves high sample efficiency and effective exploration, emphasizing the significance of addressing latent consistency through the novel incorporation of data augmentation in latent space within LCA-VAE in LSBO. We showcase the performance of our proposal via de novo image generation and de novo chemical design tasks.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 11","pages":"2446-2478"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142309091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Learning Internal Representations of 3D Transformations From 2D Projected Inputs","authors":"Marissa Connor;Bruno Olshausen;Christopher Rozell","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01695","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01695","url":null,"abstract":"We describe a computational model for inferring 3D structure from the motion of projected 2D points in an image, with the aim of understanding how biological vision systems learn and internally represent 3D transformations from the statistics of their input. The model uses manifold transport operators to describe the action of 3D points in a scene as they undergo transformation. We show that the model can learn the generator of the Lie group for these transformations from purely 2D input, providing a proof-of-concept demonstration for how biological systems could adapt their internal representations based on sensory input. Focusing on a rotational model, we evaluate the ability of the model to infer depth from moving 2D projected points and to learn rotational transformations from 2D training stimuli. Finally, we compare the model performance to psychophysical performance on structure-from-motion tasks.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 11","pages":"2505-2539"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141984035","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michał Markiewicz;Ireneusz Brzozowski;Szymon Janusz
{"title":"Spiking Neural Network Pressure Sensor","authors":"Michał Markiewicz;Ireneusz Brzozowski;Szymon Janusz","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01706","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01706","url":null,"abstract":"Von Neumann architecture requires information to be encoded as numerical values. For that reason, artificial neural networks running on computers require the data coming from sensors to be discretized. Other network architectures that more closely mimic biological neural networks (e.g., spiking neural networks) can be simulated on von Neumann architecture, but more important, they can also be executed on dedicated electrical circuits having orders of magnitude less power consumption. Unfortunately, input signal conditioning and encoding are usually not supported by such circuits, so a separate module consisting of an analog-to-digital converter, encoder, and transmitter is required. The aim of this article is to propose a sensor architecture, the output signal of which can be directly connected to the input of a spiking neural network. We demonstrate that the output signal is a valid spike source for the Izhikevich model neurons, ensuring the proper operation of a number of neurocomputational features. The advantages are clear: much lower power consumption, smaller area, and a less complex electronic circuit. The main disadvantage is that sensor characteristics somehow limit the parameters of applicable spiking neurons. The proposed architecture is illustrated by a case study involving a capacitive pressure sensor circuit, which is compatible with most of the neurocomputational properties of the Izhikevich neuron model. The sensor itself is characterized by very low power consumption: it draws only 3.49 μA at 3.3 V.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 11","pages":"2299-2321"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142037774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ℓ1-Regularized ICA: A Novel Method for Analysis of Task-Related fMRI Data","authors":"Yusuke Endo;Koujin Takeda","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01709","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01709","url":null,"abstract":"We propose a new method of independent component analysis (ICA) in order to extract appropriate features from high-dimensional data. In general, matrix factorization methods including ICA have a problem regarding the interpretability of extracted features. For the improvement of interpretability, sparse constraint on a factorized matrix is helpful. With this background, we construct a new ICA method with sparsity. In our method, the ℓ1-regularization term is added to the cost function of ICA, and minimization of the cost function is performed by a difference of convex functions algorithm. For the validity of our proposed method, we apply it to synthetic data and real functional magnetic resonance imaging data.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 11","pages":"2540-2570"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142309090","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Deconstructing Deep Active Inference: A Contrarian Information Gatherer","authors":"Théophile Champion;Marek Grześ;Lisa Bonheme;Howard Bowman","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01697","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01697","url":null,"abstract":"Active inference is a theory of perception, learning, and decision making that can be applied to neuroscience, robotics, psychology, and machine learning. Recently, intensive research has been taking place to scale up this framework using Monte Carlo tree search and deep learning. The goal of this activity is to solve more complicated tasks using deep active inference. First, we review the existing literature and then progressively build a deep active inference agent as follows: we (1) implement a variational autoencoder (VAE), (2) implement a deep hidden Markov model (HMM), and (3) implement a deep critical hidden Markov model (CHMM). For the CHMM, we implemented two versions, one minimizing expected free energy, CHMM[EFE] and one maximizing rewards, CHMM[reward]. Then we experimented with three different action selection strategies: the ε-greedy algorithm as well as softmax and best action selection. According to our experiments, the models able to solve the dSprites environment are the ones that maximize rewards. On further inspection, we found that the CHMM minimizing expected free energy almost always picks the same action, which makes it unable to solve the dSprites environment. In contrast, the CHMM maximizing reward keeps on selecting all the actions, enabling it to successfully solve the task. The only difference between those two CHMMs is the epistemic value, which aims to make the outputs of the transition and encoder networks as close as possible. Thus, the CHMM minimizing expected free energy repeatedly picks a single action and becomes an expert at predicting the future when selecting this action. This effectively makes the KL divergence between the output of the transition and encoder networks small. Additionally, when selecting the action down the average reward is zero, while for all the other actions, the expected reward will be negative. Therefore, if the CHMM has to stick to a single action to keep the KL divergence small, then the action down is the most rewarding. We also show in simulation that the epistemic value used in deep active inference can behave degenerately and in certain circumstances effectively lose, rather than gain, information. As the agent minimizing EFE is not able to explore its environment, the appropriate formulation of the epistemic value in deep active inference remains an open question.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 11","pages":"2403-2445"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141984006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wilka Carvalho;Momchil S. Tomov;William de Cothi;Caswell Barry;Samuel J. Gershman
{"title":"Predictive Representations: Building Blocks of Intelligence","authors":"Wilka Carvalho;Momchil S. Tomov;William de Cothi;Caswell Barry;Samuel J. Gershman","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01705","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01705","url":null,"abstract":"Adaptive behavior often requires predicting future events. The theory of reinforcement learning prescribes what kinds of predictive representations are useful and how to compute them. This review integrates these theoretical ideas with work on cognition and neuroscience. We pay special attention to the successor representation and its generalizations, which have been widely applied as both engineering tools and models of brain function. This convergence suggests that particular kinds of predictive representations may function as versatile building blocks of intelligence.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 11","pages":"2225-2298"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142114871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Electrical Signaling Beyond Neurons","authors":"Travis Monk;Nik Dennler;Nicholas Ralph;Shavika Rastogi;Saeed Afshar;Pablo Urbizagastegui;Russell Jarvis;André van Schaik;Andrew Adamatzky","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01696","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01696","url":null,"abstract":"Neural action potentials (APs) are difficult to interpret as signal encoders and/or computational primitives. Their relationships with stimuli and behaviors are obscured by the staggering complexity of nervous systems themselves. We can reduce this complexity by observing that “simpler” neuron-less organisms also transduce stimuli into transient electrical pulses that affect their behaviors. Without a complicated nervous system, APs are often easier to understand as signal/response mechanisms. We review examples of nonneural stimulus transductions in domains of life largely neglected by theoretical neuroscience: bacteria, protozoans, plants, fungi, and neuron-less animals. We report properties of those electrical signals—for example, amplitudes, durations, ionic bases, refractory periods, and particularly their ecological purposes. We compare those properties with those of neurons to infer the tasks and selection pressures that neurons satisfy. Throughout the tree of life, nonneural stimulus transductions time behavioral responses to environmental changes. Nonneural organisms represent the presence or absence of a stimulus with the presence or absence of an electrical signal. Their transductions usually exhibit high sensitivity and specificity to a stimulus, but are often slow compared to neurons. Neurons appear to be sacrificing the specificity of their stimulus transductions for sensitivity and speed. We interpret cellular stimulus transductions as a cell’s assertion that it detected something important at that moment in time. In particular, we consider neural APs as fast but noisy detection assertions. We infer that a principal goal of nervous systems is to detect extremely weak signals from noisy sensory spikes under enormous time pressure. We discuss neural computation proposals that address this goal by casting neurons as devices that implement online, analog, probabilistic computations with their membrane potentials. Those proposals imply a measurable relationship between afferent neural spiking statistics and efferent neural membrane electrophysiology.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 10","pages":"1939-2029"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10713896","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141984007","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trainable Reference Spikes Improve Temporal Information Processing of SNNs With Supervised Learning","authors":"Zeyuan Wang;Luis Cruz","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01702","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01702","url":null,"abstract":"Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are the next-generation neural networks composed of biologically plausible neurons that communicate through trains of spikes. By modifying the plastic parameters of SNNs, including weights and time delays, SNNs can be trained to perform various AI tasks, although in general not at the same level of performance as typical artificial neural networks (ANNs). One possible solution to improve the performance of SNNs is to consider plastic parameters other than just weights and time delays drawn from the inherent complexity of the neural system of the brain, which may help SNNs improve their information processing ability and achieve brainlike functions. Here, we propose reference spikes as a new type of plastic parameters in a supervised learning scheme in SNNs. A neuron receives reference spikes through synapses providing reference information independent of input to help during learning, whose number of spikes and timings are trainable by error backpropagation. Theoretically, reference spikes improve the temporal information processing of SNNs by modulating the integration of incoming spikes at a detailed level. Through comparative computational experiments, we demonstrate using supervised learning that reference spikes improve the memory capacity of SNNs to map input spike patterns to target output spike patterns and increase classification accuracy on the MNIST, Fashion-MNIST, and SHD data sets, where both input and target output are temporally encoded. Our results demonstrate that applying reference spikes improves the performance of SNNs by enhancing their temporal information processing ability.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 10","pages":"2136-2169"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142037775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nina Baldy;Martin Breyton;Marmaduke M. Woodman;Viktor K. Jirsa;Meysam Hashemi
{"title":"Inference on the Macroscopic Dynamics of Spiking Neurons","authors":"Nina Baldy;Martin Breyton;Marmaduke M. Woodman;Viktor K. Jirsa;Meysam Hashemi","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01701","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01701","url":null,"abstract":"The process of inference on networks of spiking neurons is essential to decipher the underlying mechanisms of brain computation and function. In this study, we conduct inference on parameters and dynamics of a mean-field approximation, simplifying the interactions of neurons. Estimating parameters of this class of generative model allows one to predict the system’s dynamics and responses under changing inputs and, indeed, changing parameters. We first assume a set of known state-space equations and address the problem of inferring the lumped parameters from observed time series. Crucially, we consider this problem in the setting of bistability, random fluctuations in system dynamics, and partial observations, in which some states are hidden. To identify the most efficient estimation or inversion scheme in this particular system identification, we benchmark against state-of-the-art optimization and Bayesian estimation algorithms, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, we explore how well the statistical relationships between parameters are maintained across different scales. We found that deep neural density estimators outperform other algorithms in the inversion scheme, despite potentially resulting in overestimated uncertainty and correlation between parameters. Nevertheless, this issue can be improved by incorporating time-delay embedding. We then eschew the mean-field approximation and employ deep neural ODEs on spiking neurons, illustrating prediction of system dynamics and vector fields from microscopic states. Overall, this study affords an opportunity to predict brain dynamics and responses to various perturbations or pharmacological interventions using deep neural networks.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 10","pages":"2030-2072"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10713873","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141984034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Top-Down Priors Disambiguate Target and Distractor Features in Simulated Covert Visual Search","authors":"Justin D. Theiss;Michael A. Silver","doi":"10.1162/neco_a_01700","DOIUrl":"10.1162/neco_a_01700","url":null,"abstract":"Several models of visual search consider visual attention as part of a perceptual inference process, in which top-down priors disambiguate bottom-up sensory information. Many of these models have focused on gaze behavior, but there are relatively fewer models of covert spatial attention, in which attention is directed to a peripheral location in visual space without a shift in gaze direction. Here, we propose a biologically plausible model of covert attention during visual search that helps to bridge the gap between Bayesian modeling and neurophysiological modeling by using (1) top-down priors over target features that are acquired through Hebbian learning, and (2) spatial resampling of modeled cortical receptive fields to enhance local spatial resolution of image representations for downstream target classification. By training a simple generative model using a Hebbian update rule, top-down priors for target features naturally emerge without the need for hand-tuned or predetermined priors. Furthermore, the implementation of covert spatial attention in our model is based on a known neurobiological mechanism, providing a plausible process through which Bayesian priors could locally enhance the spatial resolution of image representations. We validate this model during simulated visual search for handwritten digits among nondigit distractors, demonstrating that top-down priors improve accuracy for estimation of target location and classification, relative to bottom-up signals alone. Our results support previous reports in the literature that demonstrated beneficial effects of top-down priors on visual search performance, while extending this literature to incorporate known neural mechanisms of covert spatial attention.","PeriodicalId":54731,"journal":{"name":"Neural Computation","volume":"36 10","pages":"2201-2224"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2024-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141984036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}