The communication of spike events constitutes a major bottleneck in simulations of brain-scale networks with realistic connectivity. Models such as the multi-area model1 not only have a dense connectivity within areas but also between areas. Synaptic transmission delays within an area can be as short as 0.1 ms and therefore simulations require frequent spike communication between compute nodes...
In computational neuroscience, systematic performance monitoring of simulation code is challenging due to continuous technological advancements and an ever evolving zoo of neural systems models. Albers et al.[1] described generic principles for efficient benchmarking workflows and developed the open-source framework BeNNch streamlining the process for neural simulators, such as NEST[2]. Here,...
This work presents a first step towards scaling up a previously published brain-constrained model of semantic grounding. The original model explored the neural mechanics of category-specific cell assembly formation through the learning of action and object words (Tomasello et al., 2018). This initial phase focuses on replicating the original findings in NEST, to lay the groundwork for future...
Recent advances in neural plasticity research have broadened the foundational Hebbian concept by integrating additional modulating factors. Among these, eligibility propagation (e-prop) stands out as a novel approach, initially devised as an online approximation to backpropagation through time (BPTT) [1]. In this study, we present a series of novel strategies that introduce additional...
We implement a balanced excitatory/inhibitory network (EI) in Intel’s neuromorphic hardware Loihi. A version of [1] has been used by researchers as a benchmark and validation for simulators in various software and hardware environments [2]. The implementation here has the same LIF neurons, but exponential decay synapses, and reduced size, which accommodate current software and hardware...
Synaptic transmission plays a crucial role in neuron-to-neuron communication, while internal voltage dynamics, driven by dendritic currents and the spatial arrangement of synapses, influence the responses of neurons within networks. The extent to which these dynamics affect computations at different spatial scales is not fully understood. Current simulation tools focus either on detailed...
Simulating large regions of the mammalian brain at single-neuron spiking activity resolution poses significant challenges from both simulation software and hardware execution platform perspectives. In multi-GPU systems, a relevant aspect concerns the implementation of the software structures necessary for the organization of remote connections (i.e., between neurons allocated in different...
Computer simulations are an essential pillar of knowledge generation in science.
Understanding, reproducing, and exploring the results of simulations relies on tracking and organizing metadata describing numerical experiments.
However, the models used to understand real-world systems, and the computational machinery required to simulate them, are typically complex, and produce large amounts...
