Spatial representability of neuronal activity

TL;DR

This paper explores the theoretical basis for identifying neuronal firing fields, such as place cells and head direction cells, using topological analysis rather than empirical trial-and-error methods.

Contribution

It introduces a topological framework to establish the existence and properties of neuronal firing fields from spiking activity data.

Findings

Firing fields can be characterized through topological analysis.

Theoretical methods can predict properties of neuronal response regions.

Topological approaches offer a systematic alternative to empirical discovery.

Abstract

A common approach to interpreting spiking activity is based on identifying the firing fields---regions in physical or configuration spaces that elicit responses of neurons. Common examples include hippocampal place cells that fire at preferred locations in the navigated environment, head direction cells that fire at preferred orientations of the animal's head, view cells that respond to preferred spots in the visual field, etc. In all these cases, firing fields were discovered empirically, by trial and error. We argue that the existence and a number of properties of the firing fields can be established theoretically, through topological analyses of the neuronal spiking activity.