Efficient Coding Theory Predicts Synaptic Conductance, Explaining Bio Neural Energy Efficiency
jgvfwstone · x · 2026-08-31
The paper 'Efficient coding predicts synaptic conductance' proposes a model based on Shannon's information theory that explains the high energy efficiency of retinothalamic and thalamocortical synapses at natural conductance. The study shows that this parameter-free model successfully predicts efficiency values across a 120-fold change in synaptic conductance ($R^2=0.769$) and indicates that each pre-synaptic spike transmits an average of 3.58 bits at natural conductance. This supports the hypothesis that CNS neurons maximize information efficiency (bits per Joule) rather than information rate.
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