Proof That Neurons Communicate In Analog And Digital Simultaneously
The lab of David McCormick at Yale has released a paper that shows neurons operating in both analog and digital modes simultaneously.
From an article about the finding:
“McCormick’s group demonstrated that the analog signal present in the cell body also propagates down the axon and influences synaptic transmission onto other neurons. As the voltage on the sending cell becomes more positive, the amplitude of the subsequent transmission to the receiving cell, mediated by an action potential, is enhanced. This means that the waveform generated in the receiving neuron is not just determined by the digital pattern of action potentials generated, but also by the analog waveform occurring in the sending neuron.”
McCormick is a big name in the field. Is it time to start creating a new field of artificial neural networks that has both analog and digital modes?