Biological neural systems encode and transmit information as patterns of activity tracing complex trajectories in high-dimensional state spaces, inspiring alternative paradigms of information processing. Heteroclinic networks, naturally emerging in artificial neural systems, are networks of saddles in state space that provide a transparent approach to generate complex trajectories via controlled switches among interconnected saddles. External signals induce specific switching sequences, thus dynamically encoding inputs as trajectories. Recent works have focused either on computational aspects of heteroclinic networks, i.e., Heteroclinic Computing, or their stochastic properties under noise. Yet, how well such systems may transmit information remains an open question. Here, we investigate the information transmission properties of heteroclinic networks, studying them as communication channels. Choosing a tractable but representative system exhibiting a heteroclinic network, we investigate the mutual information rate (MIR) between input signals and the resulting sequences of states as the level of noise varies. Intriguingly, MIR does not decrease monotonically with increasing noise. Intermediate noise levels indeed maximize the information transmission capacity by promoting an increased yet controlled exploration of the underlying network of states. Complementing standard stochastic resonance, these results highlight the constructive effect of stochastic facilitation (i.e., noise-enhanced information transfer) on heteroclinic communication channels and possibly on more general dynamical systems exhibiting complex trajectories in state space.
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September 2021
Research Article|
September 23 2021
Stochastic facilitation in heteroclinic communication channels
Giovanni Sirio Carmantini;
Giovanni Sirio Carmantini
a)
1
foldAI
, 81369 Munich, Germany
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Fabio Schittler Neves
;
Fabio Schittler Neves
b)
2
Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) and Institute for Theoretical Physics, TU Dresden
, 01062 Dresden, Germany
b)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: fabio.neves@tu-dresden.de
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Marc Timme
;
Marc Timme
c)
2
Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden (cfaed) and Institute for Theoretical Physics, TU Dresden
, 01062 Dresden, Germany
3
Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life, TU Dresden
, 01062 Dresden, Germany
4
Lakeside Labs
, 9020 Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria
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Serafim Rodrigues
Serafim Rodrigues
d)
5
BCAM—Basque Center for Applied Mathematics
, 48009 Bilbao, Bizkaia, Spain
6
Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science
, 48013 Bilbao, Bizkaia, Spain
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a)
Electronic mail: giovanni@carmantini.com
b)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: fabio.neves@tu-dresden.de
c)
Electronic mail: marc.timme@tu-dresden.de
d)
Electronic mail: srodrigues@bcamath.org
Chaos 31, 093130 (2021)
Article history
Received:
April 19 2021
Accepted:
August 26 2021
Citation
Giovanni Sirio Carmantini, Fabio Schittler Neves, Marc Timme, Serafim Rodrigues; Stochastic facilitation in heteroclinic communication channels. Chaos 1 September 2021; 31 (9): 093130. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0054485
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