Neural Codes for Representation and Memory

The fundamental components of representation and communication in the brain are forgetful and noisy. How does the brain overcome these features to perform accurate computation and generate reliable short-term memory? Ila Fiete will discuss how recent discoveries finally substantiate classical theoretical ideas, while simultaneously showing that neural codes go far beyond our current theoretical understanding. She will argue that it is time to develop and apply information-theoretic principles specific to coding in the noisy brain.