Coding in the olfactory system : linking realistic and abstract models

[Poster presentation].In general, theoretical models for the function of the olfactory system can be divided into two broad categories. In one, the seemingly diffuse and unstructured pattern of neuronal connections within the olfactory cortex have been interpreted to suggest that it functions like a kind of an autoassociative neural network. An essential feature of autoassociative networks is their randomly structured connectivity and the special importance of the formation of connection weights in the process of its evolution. On the other hand, a very different functional structure has recently been proposed based on a detailed biologically realistic network model of the olfactory cortex. This work predicts that the olfactory cortex actually has a highly structured connectivity consisting of distinct different although highly spatially overlapping subnetworks, which are only sparsely connected to each other