preprint

[Coding Lab Wasserman]

	A preprint has been deposited in the connectionists archive. 
Its abstract and retrieval information are given here:

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              ISOMORPHISM, TASK DEPENDENCE, AND THE 
            MULTIPLE MEANING THEORY OF NEURAL CODING

			
			Gerald S. Wasserman
			Purdue University
			e-mail: codelab at psych.purdue.edu

	The neural coding problem is defined and several possible 
answers to it are reviewed. A widely accepted answer descends from 
early suggestions that neural activity, in general, is isomorphic 
with sensation and that the biological signal resident in the axon 
of a neuron, in particular, is given by its frequency of firing. 
More recent data are reviewed which indicate that the pattern of 
neural responses may also be informative. Such data led to the 
formulation of the multiple meaning theory which suggests that 
neural pattern may encode different information features in single 
responses. After a period in which attention turned elsewhere, the 
multiple meaning theory has quite recently been revived and has 
stimulated novel and careful experimental investigations. A 
corollary theory, the task dependence hypothesis, suggests that 
these information-bearing multiple response features are accessed 
differentially in different behavioral tasks. These theories place 
stringent temporal requirements on the generation and analysis of 
neural responses. Recent data are examined indicating that both 
requirements may indeed be satisfied by the nervous system. 
Finally, several methods of experimentally testing such coding 
theories are described; they involve manipulating the biological 
signals of neurons and observing the effect of these manipulations 
on behavior.

KEY WORDS: biological signals, code, neuron, receptor, retina, 
cortex, brain, neural coding, sensory coding, frequency coding, 
impulse coding, bio-electric potentials, action potentials, 
synaptic potentials, receptor potentials, anesthesia

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