Author Archives: Jorge Mejías
Reinforcement learning in the brain

The term reinforcement learning is well known among researchers in the areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence. It refers to a type of algorithms which are designed to solve a task by maximizing some kind of reward. In […]
How neurons select the best links.

When contemplating a high-technology device, one can often realize how much the design and the different pieces have been optimized for the goal they try to achieve. It does not have to be a modern-day technological device; think for example […]
Soft- bounded synapses increase neural network capacity

Neurons in your brain are interconnected through synapses, thus constituting the so-called neural networks. Following a simplified but conceptually useful view, each synapse can be seen as a “link” between two given neurons, and it has a certain associated strength. […]
The origins of neural variability

Neurons are known to display irregular behavior in many areas of the brain. When recording the evolution of the membrane potential of a given neuron in the prefrontal cortex (for instance, during in vivo electrophysiology), we can observe its erratic […]