2001/05/03 by Guillermo A. Cecchi, Guillermo Cecchi, Cecchi, Guillermo A. +8
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Neuroscience · Physics and Astronomy · #Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn) #FOS: Biological sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Neural Networks and Applications #Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms #Quantitative Biology (q-bio) #cond-mat.dis-nn #q-bio
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0105070
6 figures
arxiv created 2001/05/03 · openalex publication_date 2001/05/03 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Adult neurogenesis has long been documented in the vertebrate brain, and recently even in humans. Although it has been conjectured for many years that its functional role is related to the renewing of memories, no clear mechanism as to how this can be achieved has been proposed. We present a scheme in which incorporation of new neurons proceeds at a constant rate, while their survival is activity-dependent and thus contingent upon new neurons establishing suitable connections. We show that a simple mathematical model following these rules organizes its activity so as to maximize the difference between its responses, and can adapt to changing environmental conditions in unsupervised fashion.