Figure 3. Evolution of Reconstructions for Face Features.

At the top is the number of postsynaptic spikes emitted. Starting from random preferred stimuli, cells detect statistical regularities among the input visual spike trains after a few hundred discharges and progressively develop selectivity to those patterns. A few hundred more discharges are needed to reach a stable state. Furthermore, the population of cells self-organizes, with each cell effectively trying to learn a distinct pattern so as to cover the whole variability of the inputs.