Linking cellular-level phenomena to brain architecture: the case of spiking cerebellar controllers

Linking cellular-level phenomena to brain architecture and behavior is a holy grail for theoretical and computational neuroscience. Advances in neuroinformatics have recently allowed scientists to embed spiking neural networks of the cerebellum with realistic neuron models and multiple synaptic plasticity rules into sensorimotor controllers. By minimizing the distance (error) between the desired and the actual sensory state, and exploiting the sensory prediction, the cerebellar network acquires knowledge about the body-environment interaction and generates corrective signals. In doing so, the cerebellum implements a generalized computational algorithm, allowing it "to learn to predict the timing between correlated events" in a rich set of behavioral contexts. Plastic changes evolve trial by trial and are distributed over multiple synapses, regulating the timing of neuronal discharge and fine-tuning high-speed movements on the millisecond timescale. Thus, spiking cerebellar built-in controllers, among various computational approaches to studying cerebellar function, are helping to reveal the cellular-level substrates of network learning and signal coding, opening new frontiers for predictive computing and autonomous learning in robots.