Biologically Plausible Information Propagation in a CMOS Integrate-and-Fire Artificial Neuron Circuit with Memristive Synapses

Neuromorphic circuits based on spikes are currently envisioned as a viable option to achieve brain-like computation capabilities in specific electronic implementations while limiting power dissipation given their ability to mimic energy efficient bio-inspired mechanisms. While several network architectures have been developed to embed in hardware the bio-inspired learning rules found in the biological brain, such as the Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity, it is still unclear if hardware spiking neural network architectures can handle and transfer information akin to biological networks. In this work, we investigate the analogies between an artificial neuron combining memristor synapses and rate-based learning rule with biological neuron response in terms of information propagation from a theoretical perspective. Bio-inspired experiments have been reproduced by linking the biological probability of release with the artificial synapses conductance. Mutual information and surprise have been chosen as metrics to evidence how, for different values of synaptic weights, an artificial neuron allows to develop a reliable and biological resembling neural network in terms of information propagation and analysis