The invariance of overall sensor response to the choice of sigmoid neural response curves

Summary form only given, as follows. The result of the subtraction of two adjacent sigmoids representing neural response is introduced as a model for the bell-shaped curve of an individual sensor response. This family of functions is used in the model of overall sensor response introduced by Heiligenberg instead of the normal distribution curve exp(-x/sup 2//d) originally used by Baldi and Heiligenberg to prove that as the width parameter d of individual sensor response increases, the overall response becomes almost linear. The main result of this study is the proof that the approximation to the linearity of the overall sensor response with increasing d does not depend on the choice of the specific blob-function modeling the individual sensor. Conditions for reasonable sigmoids are formulated.<>