Information Theory and Direction Selectivity

In this brief paper, the authors study the tuning curves of starburst amacrine cells (SACs) and introduce a quantity called the irresolution or ambiguity of a SAC. They show that the rate of data generated by a starburst amacrine cell is inversely proportional to its irresolution. This is done by providing bounds on the rate required to encode the generated data. This technique can be applied to different cell types with different tuning curves. In this manner, information theoretic views can be introduced to the cases of biological cells which are not normally considered as transmitters of information as say retinal ganglion cells are. The intuition that even such cells generate information is thus quantified.