# Event-Driven Learning for Spiking Neural Networks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.00270 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.00270/

## Key facts

- Cited by 15 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 1 Mar 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [Scaling Spike-driven Transformer with Efficient Spike Firing Approximation Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.16061/) (2024)
- [Reconsidering the Energy Efficiency of Spiking Neural Networks Inference from Analytical Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.08290/) (2024)
- [Quantized Spike-driven Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.13492/) (2025)
- [Spiking Transformer:Introducing Accurate Addition-Only Spiking Self-Attention for Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00226/) (2025)
- [Global-Local Convolution with Spiking Neural Networks for Energy-efficient Keyword Spotting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.13179/) (2024)
- [TP-Spikformer: Token Pruned Spiking Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.00527/) (2026)
- [Apprenticeship-Inspired Elegance: Synergistic Knowledge Distillation Empowers Spiking Neural Networks for Efficient Single-Eye Emotion Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.09521/) (2024)
- [Edge Intelligence with Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.14069/) (2025)
- [SNN-PAR: Energy Efficient Pedestrian Attribute Recognition via Spiking Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.07857/) (2024)
- [FLAMES: A Hybrid Spiking-State Space Model for Adaptive Memory Retention in Event-Based Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.01257/) (2025)
- [SpikeSMOKE: Spiking Neural Networks for Monocular 3D Object Detection with Cross-Scale Gated Coding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.07737/) (2025)
- [Beyond Low-Rank: Low-Rank Sparse Prompting via Spiking Neural Network and Prompt Factorization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.01945/) (2026)
- [DVA-Neurons: Design and Verification of Adaptive LIF Neurons: From Single-Neuron Dynamics to Multi-Neuron Spiking Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.22775/) (2026)
- [Contrastive Attention Mitigates Spectral Bias in Spiking Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.01403/) (2026)
- [SpikeMoE: Brain-Inspired Competitive Routing for Flexible Spiking Mixture-of-Experts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.01418/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Brain-inspired spiking neural networks (SNNs) have gained prominence in the field of neuromorphic computing owing to their low energy consumption during feedforward inference on neuromorphic hardware. However, it remains an open challenge how to effectively benefit from the sparse event-driven property of SNNs to minimize backpropagation learning costs. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive examination of the existing event-driven learning algorithms, reveal their limitations, and propose novel solutions to overcome them. Specifically, we introduce two novel event-driven learning methods: the spike-timing-dependent event-driven (STD-ED) and membrane-potential-dependent event-driven (MPD-ED) algorithms. These proposed algorithms leverage precise neuronal spike timing and membrane potential, respectively, for effective learning. The two methods are extensively evaluated on static and neuromorphic datasets to confirm their superior performance. They outperform existing event-driven counterparts by up to 2.51% for STD-ED and 6.79% for MPD-ED on the CIFAR-100 dataset. In addition, we theoretically and experimentally validate the energy efficiency of our methods on neuromorphic hardware. On-chip learning experiments achieved a remarkable 30-fold reduction in energy consumption over time-step-based surrogate gradient methods. The demonstrated efficiency and efficacy of the proposed event-driven learning methods emphasize their potential to significantly advance the fields of neuromorphic computing, offering promising avenues for energy-efficiency applications.