Get the latest tech news

Barn Owls Know When to Wait


TL;DR: Noisy timing makes STDP thrash. In Part 1 we added uncertainty intervals. This post takes it to the next level and uses uncertainty as a signal to determine how much each neuron is willing to learn. When things are noisy, neurons freeze up. When the signal is good, they keep learning. No global tuning required. The Barn Owl Problem A barn owl hunts in darkness. It finds a mouse by comparing when a sound reaches its left ear versus its right ear (interaural time difference). The difference is on the order of microseconds. From that little difference, its brain computes a bearing and the owl dives.

None

Get the Android app

Or read this on Hacker News

Read more on:

Photo of owls

owls

Related news:

News photo

Owls in Towels

News photo

To save spotted owls, US officials will kill hundreds of thousands of other owls