ConceptSynapticGating

Synaptic Gating

So we introduce the idea of a gate synapse. If a neuron has an incoming gate synapse, that neuron is only enabled if a spike has arrived via that synapse in the previous four milliseconds. So if "dog-in" is not firing, the "Fido is-a" neuron can fire all it likes and nothing will happen. Its signal arrives at the "dog-out" neuron but never with enough weight to overcome the leakage rate and fire the neuron. When the "dog-in" neuron is firing, the gate is enabled and the spike will arrive at the "dog-out" neuron precisely one millisecond after it arrives from the "Fido is-a" neuron. The ideal delay for fastest learning. It doesn't matter anymore precisely when they fire if both the "Fido is-a" and the "dog-in" neurons are firing the synapse weight will increase.

• Source: 2025-08-05 ‘Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together’ Is Wrong