Face Feature Learning with Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity

Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) is a learning rule that modifies synaptic strength as a function of the relative timing of pre-and postsynaptic spikes. Here we use this learning rule with neurons integrating spike trains coming from V1 orientation selective cells. Presenting natural images containing faces we observe that the neurons develop selectivity to face features. These results suggest that temporal codes may be a key to understanding the phenomenal processing speed achieved by the visual system, and argue that STDP can lead to fast and selective responses.