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What can astrocytes compute?

Peterson, E. J.

2021-10-21 neuroscience
10.1101/2021.10.20.465192 bioRxiv
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A foundational result in neural computation was proving the firing-rate model of neurons defines a universal function approximator. In this paper I prove it is possible for astrocytes to compute anything neurons can, by extending this original proof to a model of calcium waves in astrocytes. I confirm this in a series of computer simulations. The major limit for astrocytes, it turns out, is not their ability to learn solutions but the computational complexity of their network. I suggest some initial experiments that might be used to confirm these predictions.

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