Regensburg 2002 – scientific programme

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SYPH: Physik im Hirn - Physical Approaches to Brain Function

SYPH 2: Physik im Hirn - Physical Approaches to Brain Function

SYPH 2.6: Poster

Thursday, March 14, 2002, 15:30–18:00, Poster D

Mechanisms of Synchronization in Networks of Spiking Neurons with General Rise Function — •Michael Denker, Marc Timme, Markus Diesmann, and Theo Geisel — Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung, D-37073 Göttingen

Synchronous behavior of spiking neurons is considered to play a vital role in processing of information. Here, we analyze networks of pulse-coupled oscillators [1] with delayed interactions [2] in which the membrane potential dynamics is represented by a general rise function U . This lifts the constraints imposed by previous studies which have focused on models with a given negative curvature, e.g. leaky integrate-and-fire models. We find various kinds of dynamics, including irregular motion and coexistence of states exhibiting clusters of synchronously spiking neurons. In particular, we show that the interplay between the sign of the coupling (excitation or inhibition) and the local curvature of U determines the stability of such cluster states [3]. For given network parameters the functional form of U controls the resulting dynamics.

[1] R.E. Mirollo, S.H. Strogatz, SIAM. J. Appl. Math. 50, 1645 (1990).

[2] U. Ernst, K. Pawelzik, T. Geisel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 1570 (1995).

[3] M. Timme, T. Geisel, F. Wolf, Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 27, 821.16 (2001).