Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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SYBN: Biological and Social Networks

SYBN 3: Biologische und Soziale Netzwerke, Postersitzung

SYBN 3.25: Poster

Monday, March 7, 2005, 14:00–15:30, Poster TU E

Discrete Breathers in Neural Networks — •Hecke Schrobsdorff, Vincent David, Joachim Hass, J. Michael Herrmann, and Theo Geisel — MPI für Strömungsforschung und Institut für Nichtlineare Dynamik der Universität Göttingen, Bunsenstr. 10, D-37073 Göttingen

Localization in non-linear lattices of excitable elements is present in discrete breathers ^[1], and forms an interesting counterpart to localization of activity in neural systems ^[2]. We study the behavior of breather-like excitations in a system of locally interacting integrate-and-fire neurons. Both numerical and analytical results justify the notion of a neural breather, which may form an element of modeling working memory and attention.

In particular we consider formation and collapse of neural breathers in dependence of the structure of the underlying lattice, the oscillatory mechanisms in the units, the range of the interaction, delays, spike latency, refraction, and noise. We also discuss networks of spatially distributed breathers, which may model communication between prefrontal cortex and other brain regions.

^[1] Aubrey S (1997) Physica D 103:201-250.

^[2] Rubin J, Bose A (2004) Network: Computation in Neural Systems 15:133-158.