Neural heterogeneity as a unifying mechanism for efficient learning in spiking neural networks.

ABSTRACT: The brain is a highly diverse and heterogeneous network, yet the functional role of this neural heterogeneity remains largely unclear. Despite growing interest in neural heterogeneity, a comprehensive understanding of how it influences computation across different neural levels and learning methods is still lacking. In this work, we systematically examine the neural computation of spiking neural networks (SNNs) in three key sources of neural heterogeneity: external, network, and intrinsic heterogeneity. We evaluate their impact using three distinct learning methods, which can carry out tasks ranging from simple curve fitting to complex network reconstruction and real-world applications. Our results show that while different types of neural heterogeneity contribute in distinct ways, they co

SUBMITTER: Zhang F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12634501 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature