Sparse coding is thought to facilitate pattern separation for associative memory, but behavioral evidence is scant. The authors show that in Drosophila, feedback inhibition enforces sparse odor coding in Kenyon cells, the neurons that store olfactory associations. Disrupting this sparsening mechanism impairs learned discrimination of similar, but not dissimilar, odors.
- Andrew C Lin
- Alexei M Bygrave
- Gero Miesenböck
