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Previous work on convexity of neural codes has produced codes that are open-convex but not closed-convex -- or vice-versa. However, why a code is one but not the other, and how to detect such discrepancies are open questions. We tackle…
Neural codes, represented as collections of binary strings called codewords, are used to encode neural activity. A code is called convex if its codewords are represented as an arrangement of convex open sets in Euclidean space. Previous…
Neural codes, represented as collections of binary strings, encode neural activity and show relationships among stimuli. Certain neurons, called place cells, have been shown experimentally to fire in convex regions in space. A natural…
How does the brain encode spatial structure? One way is through hippocampal neurons called place cells, which become associated to convex regions of space known as their receptive fields: each place cell fires at a high rate precisely when…
Neural codes serve as a language for neurons in the brain. Convex codes, which arise from the pattern of intersections of convex sets in Euclidean space, are of particular relevance to neuroscience. Not every code is convex, however, and…
Neural codes allow the brain to represent, process, and store information about the world. Combinatorial codes, comprised of binary patterns of neural activity, encode information via the collective behavior of populations of neurons. A…
Neural codes are collections of binary strings motivated by patterns of neural activity. In this paper, we study algorithmic and enumerative aspects of convex neural codes in dimension 1 (i.e. on a line or a circle). We use the theory of…
A convex code is a binary code generated by the pattern of intersections of a collection of open convex sets in some Euclidean space. Convex codes are relevant to neuroscience as they arise from the activity of neurons that have convex…
Place cells are neurons that act as biological position sensors, associated with and firing in response to regions of an environment to situate an organism in space. These associations are recorded in (combinatorial) neural codes,…
We investigate combinatorial, topological and algebraic properties of certain classes of neural codes. We look into a conjecture that states if the minimal \textit{open convex} embedding dimension of a neural code is two then its minimal…
We define a notion of morphism between combinatorial codes, making the class of all combinatorial codes into a category $\mathbf{Code}$. We show that morphisms can be used to remove redundant information from a code, and that morphisms…
The brain encodes spacial structure through a combinatorial code of neural activity. Experiments suggest such codes correspond to convex areas of the subject's environment. We present an intrinsic condition that implies a neural code may…
Much work has been done to identify which binary codes can be represented by collections of open convex or closed convex sets. While not all binary codes can be realized by such sets, here we prove that every binary code can be realized by…
Convex neural codes are combinatorial structures describing the intersection pattern of a collection of convex sets. Inductively pierced codes are a particularly nice subclass of neural codes introduced in the information visualization…
Convex neural codes are subsets of the Boolean lattice that record the intersection patterns of convex sets in Euclidean space. Much work in recent years has focused on finding combinatorial criteria on codes that can be used to classify…
Neural codes are lists of subsets of neurons that fire together. Of particular interest are neurons called place cells, which fire when an animal is in specific, usually convex regions in space. A fundamental question, therefore, is to…
This dissertation explores applications of discrete geometry in mathematical neuroscience. We begin with convex neural codes, which model the activity of hippocampal place cells and other neurons with convex receptive fields. In Chapter 4,…
Given an intersection pattern of arbitrary sets in Euclidean space, is there an arrangement of convex open sets in Euclidean space that exhibits the same intersections? This question is combinatorial and topological in nature, but is…
Determining how the brain stores information is one of the most pressing problems in neuroscience. In many instances, the collection of stimuli for a given neuron can be modeled by a convex set in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Combinatorial objects known…
Neural codes are binary codes that are used for information processing and representation in the brain. In previous work, we have shown how an algebraic structure, called the {\it neural ring}, can be used to efficiently encode geometric…