Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userDynamics of Neural Networks with Continuous Attractors
334
0
0.0
(
0
)
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We investigate the dynamics of continuous attractor neural networks (CANNs). Due to the translational invariance of their neuronal interactions, CANNs can hold a continuous family of stationary states. We systematically explore how their neutral stability facilitates the tracking performance of a CANN, which is believed to have wide applications in brain functions. We develop a perturbative approach that utilizes the dominant movement of the network stationary states in the state space. We quantify the distortions of the bump shape during tracking, and study their effects on the tracking performance. Results are obtained on the maximum speed for a moving stimulus to be trackable, and the reaction time to catch up an abrupt change in stimulus.
rate research
Read More
We study a network of spiking neurons with heterogeneous excitabilities connected via inhibitory delayed pulses. For globally coupled systems the increase of the inhibitory coupling reduces the number of firing neurons by following a Winner Takes All mechanism. For sufficiently large transmission delay we observe the emergence of collective oscillations in the system beyond a critical coupling value. Heterogeneity promotes neural inactivation and asynchronous dynamics and its effect can be counteracted by considering longer time delays. In sparse networks, inhibition has the counterintuitive effect of promoting neural reactivation of silent neurons for sufficiently large coupling. In this regime, current fluctuations are on one side responsible for neural firing of sub-threshold neurons and on the other side for their desynchronization. Therefore, collective oscillations are present only in a limited range of coupling values, which remains finite in the thermodynamic limit. Out of this range the dynamics is asynchronous and for very large inhibition neurons display a bursting behaviour alternating periods of silence with periods where they fire freely in absence of any inhibition.
While most models of randomly connected networks assume nodes with simple dynamics, nodes in realistic highly connected networks, such as neurons in the brain, exhibit intrinsic dynamics over multiple timescales. We analyze how the dynamical properties of nodes (such as single neurons) and recurrent connections interact to shape the effective dynamics in large randomly connected networks. A novel dynamical mean-field theory for strongly connected networks of multi-dimensional rate units shows that the power spectrum of the network activity in the chaotic phase emerges from a nonlinear sharpening of the frequency response function of single units. For the case of two-dimensional rate units with strong adaptation, we find that the network exhibits a state of resonant chaos, characterized by robust, narrow-band stochastic oscillations. The coherence of stochastic oscillations is maximal at the onset of chaos and their correlation time scales with the adaptation timescale of single units. Surprisingly, the resonance frequency can be predicted from the properties of isolated units, even in the presence of heterogeneity in the adaptation parameters. In the presence of these internally-generated chaotic fluctuations, the transmission of weak, low-frequency signals is strongly enhanced by adaptation, whereas signal transmission is not influenced by adaptation in the non-chaotic regime. Our theoretical framework can be applied to other mechanisms at the level of single nodes, such as synaptic filtering, refractoriness or spike synchronization. These results advance our understanding of the interaction between the dynamics of single units and recurrent connectivity, which is a fundamental step toward the description of biologically realistic network models in the brain, or, more generally, networks of other physical or man-made complex dynamical units.
We investigate the dynamical role of inhibitory and highly connected nodes (hub) in synchronization and input processing of leaky-integrate-and-fire neural networks with short term synaptic plasticity. We take advantage of a heterogeneous mean-field approximation to encode the role of network structure and we tune the fraction of inhibitory neurons $f_I$ and their connectivity level to investigate the cooperation between hub features and inhibition. We show that, depending on $f_I$, highly connected inhibitory nodes strongly drive the synchronization properties of the overall network through dynamical transitions from synchronous to asynchronous regimes. Furthermore, a metastable regime with long memory of external inputs emerges for a specific fraction of hub inhibitory neurons, underlining the role of inhibition and connectivity also for input processing in neural networks.
We introduce a model of generalized Hebbian learning and retrieval in oscillatory neural networks modeling cortical areas such as hippocampus and olfactory cortex. Recent experiments have shown that synaptic plasticity depends on spike timing, especially on synapses from excitatory pyramidal cells, in hippocampus and in sensory and cerebellar cortex. Here we study how such plasticity can be used to form memories and input representations when the neural dynamics are oscillatory, as is common in the brain (particularly in the hippocampus and olfactory cortex). Learning is assumed to occur in a phase of neural plasticity, in which the network is clamped to external teaching signals. By suitable manipulation of the nonlinearity of the neurons or of the oscillation frequencies during learning, the model can be made, in a retrieval phase, either to categorize new inputs or to map them, in a continuous fashion, onto the space spanned by the imprinted patterns. We identify the first of these possibilities with the function of olfactory cortex and the second with the observed response characteristics of place cells in hippocampus. We investigate both kinds of networks analytically and by computer simulations, and we link the models with experimental findings, exploring, in particular, how the spike timing dependence of the synaptic plasticity constrains the computational function of the network and vice versa.
We introduce an analytically solvable model of two-dimensional continuous attractor neural networks (CANNs). The synaptic input and the neuronal response form Gaussian bumps in the absence of external stimuli, and enable the network to track external stimuli by its translational displacement in the two-dimensional space. Basis functions of the two-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator in polar coordinates are introduced to describe the distortion modes of the Gaussian bump. The perturbative method is applied to analyze its dynamics. Testing the method by considering the network behavior when the external stimulus abruptly changes its position, we obtain results of the reaction time and the amplitudes of various distortion modes, with excellent agreement with simulation results.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
