A single-spike model of predictive coding

The standard cortical model assumes that the meaning of a neuron's signal i s contained in its firing rate. While that model has been used to interpret a voluminous amount of experimental data, it does not address the question of timing, or how recipient neurons can decode this signal in time to pred ict behavioral results. We propose a model based on coincident firing of la rge groups of neurons. We show using an example of predictive coding, how t he cortex can support vast amounts of non-interfering parallel computation. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.