Temperature Effects on Information Capacity and Energy Efficiency of Hodgkin-Huxley Neuron

TL;DR

This study investigates how temperature influences the information processing capacity and energy efficiency of Hodgkin-Huxley neurons, revealing optimal temperatures for maximum efficiency and implications for neural evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of temperature effects on both information rate and energy efficiency in Hodgkin-Huxley neurons, highlighting their evolutionary significance.

Findings

Maximum information rate and energy efficiency occur at different temperatures.

Neurons maintain high information capacity at temperatures optimizing energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency may be a key factor in neural system evolution.

Abstract

Recent experimental and theoretical studies show that energy efficiency, which measures the amount of information processed by a neuron with per unit of energy consumption, plays an important role in the evolution of neural systems. Here, we calculated the information rates and energy efficiencies of the Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) neuron model at different temperatures in a noisy environment. We found that both the information rate and energy efficiency are maximized by certain temperatures. Though the information rate and energy efficiency cannot be maximized simultaneously, the neuron holds a high information processing capacity at the temperature corresponding to maximal energy efficiency. Our results support the idea that the energy efficiency is a selective pressure that influences the evolution of nervous systems.