What is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.

Stochastic resonance is said to be observed when increases in levels of unpredictable fluctuations--e.g., random noise--cause an increase in a metric of the quality of signal transmission or detection performance, rather than a decrease. This counterintuitive effect relies on system nonlinearities a...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Mark D McDonnell, Derek Abbott
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009
Materias:	Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/475059b2fd304e9eae6e0946a2281aa1
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:475059b2fd304e9eae6e0946a2281aa1
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:475059b2fd304e9eae6e0946a2281aa12021-11-25T05:42:22ZWhat is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.1553-734X1553-735810.1371/journal.pcbi.1000348https://doaj.org/article/475059b2fd304e9eae6e0946a2281aa12009-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/19562010/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1553-734Xhttps://doaj.org/toc/1553-7358Stochastic resonance is said to be observed when increases in levels of unpredictable fluctuations--e.g., random noise--cause an increase in a metric of the quality of signal transmission or detection performance, rather than a decrease. This counterintuitive effect relies on system nonlinearities and on some parameter ranges being "suboptimal". Stochastic resonance has been observed, quantified, and described in a plethora of physical and biological systems, including neurons. Being a topic of widespread multidisciplinary interest, the definition of stochastic resonance has evolved significantly over the last decade or so, leading to a number of debates, misunderstandings, and controversies. Perhaps the most important debate is whether the brain has evolved to utilize random noise in vivo, as part of the "neural code". Surprisingly, this debate has been for the most part ignored by neuroscientists, despite much indirect evidence of a positive role for noise in the brain. We explore some of the reasons for this and argue why it would be more surprising if the brain did not exploit randomness provided by noise--via stochastic resonance or otherwise--than if it did. We also challenge neuroscientists and biologists, both computational and experimental, to embrace a very broad definition of stochastic resonance in terms of signal-processing "noise benefits", and to devise experiments aimed at verifying that random variability can play a functional role in the brain, nervous system, or other areas of biology.Mark D McDonnellDerek AbbottPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleBiology (General)QH301-705.5ENPLoS Computational Biology, Vol 5, Iss 5, p e1000348 (2009)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Mark D McDonnell Derek Abbott What is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.
description	Stochastic resonance is said to be observed when increases in levels of unpredictable fluctuations--e.g., random noise--cause an increase in a metric of the quality of signal transmission or detection performance, rather than a decrease. This counterintuitive effect relies on system nonlinearities and on some parameter ranges being "suboptimal". Stochastic resonance has been observed, quantified, and described in a plethora of physical and biological systems, including neurons. Being a topic of widespread multidisciplinary interest, the definition of stochastic resonance has evolved significantly over the last decade or so, leading to a number of debates, misunderstandings, and controversies. Perhaps the most important debate is whether the brain has evolved to utilize random noise in vivo, as part of the "neural code". Surprisingly, this debate has been for the most part ignored by neuroscientists, despite much indirect evidence of a positive role for noise in the brain. We explore some of the reasons for this and argue why it would be more surprising if the brain did not exploit randomness provided by noise--via stochastic resonance or otherwise--than if it did. We also challenge neuroscientists and biologists, both computational and experimental, to embrace a very broad definition of stochastic resonance in terms of signal-processing "noise benefits", and to devise experiments aimed at verifying that random variability can play a functional role in the brain, nervous system, or other areas of biology.
format	article
author	Mark D McDonnell Derek Abbott
author_facet	Mark D McDonnell Derek Abbott
author_sort	Mark D McDonnell
title	What is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.
title_short	What is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.
title_full	What is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.
title_fullStr	What is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.
title_full_unstemmed	What is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.
title_sort	what is stochastic resonance? definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2009
url	https://doaj.org/article/475059b2fd304e9eae6e0946a2281aa1
work_keys_str_mv	AT markdmcdonnell whatisstochasticresonancedefinitionsmisconceptionsdebatesanditsrelevancetobiology AT derekabbott whatisstochasticresonancedefinitionsmisconceptionsdebatesanditsrelevancetobiology
_version_	1718414513912414208

What is stochastic resonance? Definitions, misconceptions, debates, and its relevance to biology.

Ejemplares similares