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Phys. Rev. E 67, 021901 (2003) [4 pages]

Robustness and enhancement of neural synchronization by activity-dependent coupling

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V. P. Zhigulin1,2 *, M. I. Rabinovich2, R. Huerta2,3, and H. D. I. Abarbanel2,4
1Department of Physics, MC 103-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125
2Institute for Nonlinear Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0402
3GNB, ETS de Ingeniería Informática, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
4Department of Physics and Marine Physical Laboratory (Scripps Institution of Oceanography), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 93093-0402

Received 3 October 2002; published 6 February 2003

We study the synchronization of two model neurons coupled through a synapse having an activity-dependent strength. Our synapse follows the rules of spike-timing dependent plasticity. We show that this plasticity of the coupling between neurons produces enlarged frequency-locking zones and results in synchronization that is more rapid and much more robust against noise than classical synchronization arising from connections with constant strength. We also present a simple discrete map model that demonstrates the generality of the phenomenon.


©2003 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v67/e021901
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.67.021901
PACS: 87.18.Sn, 87.18.Bb, 05.45.Xt

* Electronic address: zhigulin@caltech.edu

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