ArticlePLoS computational biology2024
Synergistic information supports modality integration and flexible learning in neural networks solving multiple tasks.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- Sampling bias corrections for discrete and Gaussian partial information decompositions.Patterns (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Charting higher-order models of brain function beyond pairwise interactions.Nature communications · 2026Article
- High-Intensity Exercise Performance as a Complex Adaptive System: An Integrative Review.Muscles (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Competitive interactions shape mammalian brain network dynamics and computation.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Evolving reservoir computers reveal bidirectional coupling between predictive power and emergent dynamics.Patterns (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Interpreting Performance of Deep Neural Networks with Partial Information Decomposition.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Null models for comparing information decomposition across complex systems.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Higher-order and distributed synergistic functional interactions encode information gain in goal-directed learning.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Emergence of a synergistic scaffold in the brains of human infants.Communications biology · 2025Article
- A general framework for interpretable neural learning based on local information-theoretic goal functions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Time-varying synergy/redundancy dominance in the human cerebral cortex.Journal of physics. Complexity · 2025Article
- Effect of a Plant-Based Nootropic Supplement on Perceptual Decision-Making and Brain Network Interdependencies: A Randomised, Double-Blinded, and Placebo-Controlled Study.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Identification of brain-like complex information architectures in embryonic tissue ofCommunicative & integrative biology · 2025Article
- Characterising high-order interdependence via entropic conjugation.Communications physics · 2025Article
- A Synergistic Perspective on Multivariate Computation and Causality in Complex Systems.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- A synergistic workspace for human consciousness revealed by Integrated Information Decomposition.eLife · 2024Article
- A Measure of Synergy Based on Union Information.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Transcranial ultrasound stimulation effect in the redundant and synergistic networks consistent across macaques.Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Striking progress has been made in understanding cognition by analyzing how the brain is engaged in different modes of information processing. For instance, so-called synergistic information (information encoded by a set of neurons but not by any subset) plays a key role in areas of the human brain linked with complex cognition. However, two questions remain unanswered: (a) how and why a cognitive system can become highly synergistic; and (b) how informational states map onto artificial neural networks in various learning modes. Here we employ an information-decomposition framework to investigate neural networks performing cognitive tasks. Our results show that synergy increases as networks learn multiple diverse tasks, and that in tasks requiring integration of multiple sources, performance critically relies on synergistic neurons. Overall, our results suggest that synergy is used to combine information from multiple modalities-and more generally for flexible and efficient learning. These findings reveal new ways of investigating how and why learning systems employ specific information-processing strategies, and support the principle that the capacity for general-purpose learning critically relies on the system's information dynamics.
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Registered trials
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.