FIGURE 2.
How the optimal stimulus properties of sensory neurons may be constrained by network architecture. Panels (A,B) adapted with permission from DiMattina and Zhang (2008). (A) A simple neural network (left) and its responses to inputs x1, x2 (right). The optimal stimulus for this network must lie on the boundary of any closed set of stimuli (right panel, thick red line). (B) The functional network connecting a single neuron (α or β) to the sensory periphery may have fewer units in successive processing layers (convergent), even if the overall number of neurons in successive processing layers is increasing (divergent).