Prediction of neural activity in connectome-constrained recurrent networks

We develop a theory of connectome-constrained neural networks in which a student network is trained to reproduce the activity of a ground-truth teacher, representing a neural system for which a connectome is available. Unlike standard paradigms with unconstrained connectivity, here both networks have the same connectivity but they have different biophysical parameters, reflecting uncertainty in neuronal and synaptic properties. We find that a connectome is often insufficient to constrain the dynamics of networks that perform a specific task, illustrating the difficulty of inferring function from connectivity alone. However, recordings from a small subset of neurons can remove this degeneracy, producing dynamics in the student that agree with the teacher. Our theory can also prioritize which neurons to record from to most efficiently infer unmeasured network activity. Our analysis shows that the solution spaces of connectome-constrained and unconstrained models are qualitatively different, and provides a framework to determine when such models yield consistent dynamics.