Communications in Mathematical Sciences

Volume 7 (2009)

Number 1

Reliability of layered neural oscillator networks

Pages: 239 – 247

(Fast Communication)

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4310/CMS.2009.v7.n1.a12

Authors

Kevin. K. Lin

Eric Shea-Brown

Lai-Sang Young

Abstract

We study the reliability of large networks of pulse-coupled oscillators in response to fluctuating stimuli. Reliability means that a stimulus elicits essentially identical responses upon repeated presentations. We view the problem on two scales: neuronal reliability, which concerns the repeatability of spike times of individual oscillators embedded within a network, and pooled-response reliability, which addresses the repeatability of the total output from the network. We find that individual embedded oscillators can be reliable or unreliable depending on network conditions, whereas pooled responses of sufficiently large networks are mostly reliable.

Keywords

Neural network dynamics, coupled oscillators, random dynamical systems

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification

34C15, 37H99, 82C32, 92B20

Published 1 January 2009