{"ID":2841822,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.11463","arxiv_id":"2511.11463","title":"A universal theorem of sensory information","abstract":"A universal theorem of sensory information, analogous to the second law of thermodynamics, is derived. Beginning from a minimal description of a sensory neuron, a state-space representation of firing rate emerges naturally from Shannon's measure of information. A special case of this formulation predicts a previously unknown inequality governing sensory adaptation, which was confirmed across different modalities, species, and experimental conditions. Further analysis shows that the firing rate behaves like a state function in thermodynamics, leading to an entropy production equation from which a general law follows: any closed cycle of stimulation yields a non-negative net gain of sensory information.","short_abstract":"A universal theorem of sensory information, analogous to the second law of thermodynamics, is derived. Beginning from a minimal description of a sensory neuron, a state-space representation of firing rate emerges naturally from Shannon's measure of information. A special case of this formulation predicts a previously u...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.11463","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.11463v1","authors":"[\"Willy Wong\"]","published":"2025-11-14T16:35:45Z","proceeding":"q-bio.NC","tasks":"[\"q-bio.NC\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}