Geoffrey Hinton described doing this back in 2012. He noted that it learned more slowly but generalized better, he described how this is nearly isomorphic with

Geoffrey Hinton described doing this back in 2012. He noted that it learned more slowly but generalized better, he described how this is nearly isomorphic with dropout, and he presented a biological motivation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DleXA5ADG78#t=45m32s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DleXA5ADG78#t=45m32s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DleXA5ADG78#t=4m24s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DleXA5ADG78#t=4m24s