Spike-timing dependent plasticity partially compensates for neural delays in a multilayered network of motion-sensitive neurons

Abstract

The ability of the brain to represent the external world in real-time is impacted by the fact that neural processing takes time. Because neural delays accumulate as information progresses through the visual system, representations encoded at each hierarchical level are based upon input that is progressively outdated with respect to the external world. This ‘representational lag’ is particularly relevant to the task of localizing a moving object–because the object’s location changes with time, neural representations of its location potentially lag behind its true location. Converging evidence suggests that the brain has evolved mechanisms that allow it to compensate for its inherent delays by..