An Extreme Value Theory Model of Cross-Modal Sensory Information Integration in Modulation of Vertebrate Visual System Functions

We propose a computational model of vision that describes the integration of cross-modal sensory information between the olfactory and visual systems in zebrafish based on the principles of the statistical extreme value theory. The integration of olfacto-retinal information is mediated by the centrifugal pathway that originates from the olfactory bulb and terminates in the neural retina. Motivation for using extreme value theory stems from physiological evidence suggesting that extremes and not the mean of the cell responses direct cellular activity in the vertebrate brain. We argue that the visual system, as measured by retinal ganglion cell responses in spikes/sec, follows an extreme value process for sensory integration and the increase in visual sensitivity from the olfactory input can be better modeled using extreme value distributions. As zebrafish maintains high evolutionary proximity to mammals, our model can be extended to other vertebrates as well.