Related papers: Signal processing in local neuronal circuits based…
We use a biophysical model of a local neuronal circuit to study the implications of synaptic plasticity for the detection of weak sensory stimuli. Networks with fast plastic coupling show behavior consistent with stochastic resonance.…
We investigate the efficient transmission and processing of weak, subthreshold signals in a realistic neural medium in the presence of different levels of the underlying noise. Assuming Hebbian weights for maximal synaptic conductances --…
Short-term changes in efficacy have been postulated to enhance the ability of synapses to transmit information between neurons, and within neuronal networks. Even at the level of connections between single neurons, direct confirmation of…
Competition between synapses arises in some forms of correlation-based plasticity. Here we propose a game theory-inspired model of synaptic interactions whose dynamics is driven by competition between synapses in their weak and strong…
In this work we study the detection of weak stimuli by spiking neurons in the presence of certain level of noisy background neural activity. Our study has focused in the realistic assumption that the synapses in the network present…
The synaptic connectivity of cortical networks features an overrepresentation of certain wiring motifs compared to simple random-network models. This structure is shaped, in part, by synaptic plasticity that promotes or suppresses…
We consider a fully-connected network of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons with spike-timing-dependent plasticity. The plasticity is controlled by a parameter representing the expected weight of a synapse between neurons that are firing…
The dynamics of local cortical networks are irregular, but correlated. Dynamic excitatory--inhibitory balance is a plausible mechanism that generates such irregular activity, but it remains unclear how balance is achieved and maintained in…
The synaptic connectivity of cortex is plastic, with experience shaping the ongoing interactions between neurons. Theoretical studies of spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) have focused on either just pairs of neurons or large-scale…
Synaptic connections in neuronal circuits are modulated by pre- and post-synaptic spiking activity. Heuristic models of this process of synaptic plasticity can provide excellent fits to results from in-vitro experiments in which pre- and…
The co-occurrence of action potentials of pairs of neurons within short time intervals is known since long. Such synchronous events can appear time-locked to the behavior of an animal and also theoretical considerations argue for a…
A good understanding of how neurons use electrical pulses (i.e, spikes) to encode the signal information remains elusive. Analyzing spike sequences generated by individual neurons and by two coupled neurons (using the stochastic…
Dynamical criticality has been shown to enhance information processing in dynamical systems, and there is evidence for self-organized criticality in neural networks. A plausible mechanism for such self-organization is activity dependent…
The brain is formed by cortical regions that are associated with different cognitive functions. Neurons within the same region are more likely to connect than neurons in distinct regions, making the brain network to have characteristics of…
In neural circuits, synaptic strengths influence neuronal activity by shaping network dynamics, and neuronal activity influences synaptic strengths through activity-dependent plasticity. Motivated by this fact, we study a recurrent-network…
Understanding how the brain learns to compute functions reliably, efficiently and robustly with noisy spiking activity is a fundamental challenge in neuroscience. Most sensory and motor tasks can be described as dynamical systems and could…
Biological neurons receive multiple noisy oscillatory signals, and their dynamical response to the superposition of these signals is of fundamental importance for information processing in the brain. Here we study the response of neural…
Synaptic connections between neurons in the brain are dynamic because of continuously ongoing spine dynamics, axonal sprouting, and other processes. In fact, it was recently shown that the spontaneous synapse-autonomous component of spine…
Functional connectivity is a fundamental property of neural networks that quantifies the segregation and integration of information between cortical areas. Due to mathematical complexity, a theory that could explain how the parameters of…
Synaptic plasticity allows cortical circuits to learn new tasks and to adapt to changing environments. How do cortical circuits use plasticity to acquire functions such as decision-making or working memory? Neurons are connected in complex…