We develop an inference and optimal design procedure for recovering synaptic weights in neural microcircuits. We base our procedure on data from an experiment in which populations of putative presynaptic neurons can be stimulated while a subthreshold recording is made from a single postsynaptic neuron. We present a realistic statistical model which accounts for the main sources of variability in this experiment and allows for large amounts of information about the biological system to be incorporated if available. We then present a simpler model to facilitate online experimental design which entails the use of efficient Bayesian inference. The optimized approach results in equal quality posterior estimates of the synaptic weights in roughly half the number of experimental trials under experimentally realistic conditions, tested on synthetic data generated from the full model.

Neural Information Processing Systems http://nips.cc/

We develop an inference and optimal design procedure for recovering synaptic weights in neural microcircuits. We base our procedure on data from an experiment in which populations of putative presynaptic neurons can be stimulated while a subthreshold recording is made from a single postsynaptic neuron. We present a realistic statistical model which accounts for the main sources of variability in this experiment and allows for large amounts of information about the biological system to be incorporated if available. We then present a simpler model to facilitate online experimental design which entails the use of efficient Bayesian inference. The optimized approach results in equal quality posterior estimates of the synaptic weights in roughly half the number of experimental trials under experimentally realistic conditions, tested on synthetic data generated from the full model.

With the advent of modern stimulation techniques in neuroscience, the opportunity arises to map neuron to neuron connectivity. In this work, we develop a method for efficiently inferring posterior distributions over synaptic strengths in neural microcircuits. The input to our algorithm is data from experiments in which action potentials from putative presynaptic neurons can be evoked while a subthreshold recording is made from a single postsynaptic neuron. We present a realistic statistical model which accounts for the main sources of variability in this experiment and allows for significant prior information about the connectivity and neuronal cell types to be incorporated if available. Due to the technical challenges and sparsity of these systems, it is important to focus experimental time stimulating the neurons whose synaptic strength is most ambiguous, therefore we also develop an online optimal design algorithm for choosing which neurons to stimulate at each trial.

We develop an inference and optimal design procedure for recovering synaptic weights in neural microcircuits. We base our procedure on data from an experiment in which populations of putative presynaptic neurons can be stimulated while a subthreshold recording is made from a single postsynaptic neuron. We present a realistic statistical model which accounts for the main sources of variability in this experiment and allows for large amounts of information about the biological system to be incorporated if available. We then present a simpler model to facilitate online experimental design which entails the use of efficient Bayesian inference. The optimized approach results in equal quality posterior estimates of the synaptic weights in roughly half the number of experimental trials under experimentally realistic conditions, tested on synthetic data generated from the full model.

We develop an inference and optimal design procedure for recovering synaptic weights in neural microcircuits. We base our procedure on data from an experiment in which populations of putative presynaptic neurons can be stimulated while a subthreshold recording is made from a single postsynaptic neuron. We present a realistic statistical model which accounts for the main sources of variability in this experiment and allows for large amounts of information about the biological system to be incorporated if available. We then present a simpler model to facilitate online experimental design which entails the use of efficient Bayesian inference. The optimized approach results in equal quality posterior estimates of the synaptic weights in roughly half the number of experimental trials under experimentally realistic conditions, tested on synthetic data generated from the full model.