On- and Off-centre Pathways in a Retino-Geniculate Spiking Neural Network on SpiNNaker

We present a neural circuit inspired by the brain visual pathway simulated with neuromorphic hardware. The main recipient of the visual information from retinal ganglion cells is the dorsal part of the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN). Previously, we have implemented a Spiking Neural Network of the LGN on SpiNNaker receiving inputs from an electronic retina (e-retina) chip comprising a Dynamic Vision Sensor. Here, we incorporate a retinotopic structure in the existing LGN network emulating the on- and off-centre receptive fields of the retinal spiking neurons, which are well simulated by the e-retina output. We have parameterised the model to mimic the 'push' (excitation) and 'pull' (inhibition) dynamics observed in the LGN due to the centre-surround organisation of its receptive fields and synaptic connectivities. The model presented here lay the groundwork for research on building a biologically plausible spiking neural network of visual cognition.

Automated summary

The study introduces a neural circuit inspired by the brain visual pathway simulated with neuromorphic hardware, incorporating a retinotopic structure in the existing LGN network. The model parametrized to mimic the dynamics observed in the LGN due to the receptive fields and synaptic connectivities, providing the groundwork for building a biologically plausible spiking neural network of visual cognition.