Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37002222›Full record

ArticleNature communications2023

Meta-learning biologically plausible plasticity rules with random feedback pathways.

Navid Shervani-Tabar, Robert Rosenbaum

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Flexible inference for animal learning rules using neural networks.Advances in neural information processing systems · 2025
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Discovering plasticity rules that organize and maintain neural circuits.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Navid Shervani-TabarDepartment of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA. nshervan@nd.edu.
Robert RosenbaumDepartment of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2105-9282

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Backpropagation is widely used to train artificial neural networks, but its relationship to synaptic plasticity in the brain is unknown. Some biological models of backpropagation rely on feedback projections that are symmetric with feedforward connections, but experiments do not corroborate the existence of such symmetric backward connectivity. Random feedback alignment offers an alternative model in which errors are propagated backward through fixed, random backward connections. This approach successfully trains shallow models, but learns slowly and does not perform well with deeper models or online learning. In this study, we develop a meta-learning approach to discover interpretable, biologically plausible plasticity rules that improve online learning performance with fixed random feedback connections. The resulting plasticity rules show improved online training of deep models in the low data regime. Our results highlight the potential of meta-learning to discover effective, interpretable learning rules satisfying biological constraints.

Indexed as

LearningNeural Networks, ComputerBrainFeedbackModels, NeurologicalNeuronal Plasticity

Identifiers

PMID37002222
PMCPMC10066328

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.