Phase-locking without oscillations

[Christof Koch]

The following paper  is available by anyonymous  FTP  from Ohio  State
University from pub/neuroprose. The file is called  "koch.syncron.ps.Z".
 
 
 
 
                        A SIMPLE NETWORK SHOWING BURST
                SYNCHRONIZATION WITHOUT FREQUENCY-LOCKING
 
 
                        Christof Koch and Heinz Schuster
 
 
ABSTRACT: The  dynamic  behavior of  a network  model   consisting  of
all-to-all excitatory coupled binary neurons with global inhibition is
studied analytically  and  numerically. It  is shown that   for random
input signals,  the output   of  the network consists of  synchronized
bursts  with  apparently random  intermissions  of noisy  activity. We
introduce the  fraction of simultaneously firing  neurons as a measure
for synchrony  and  prove   that  its temporal  correlation   function
displays,  besides a delta peak  at  zero indicating random processes,
strongly  damped  oscillations.  Our results suggest that  synchronous
bursts  can be  generated   by a  simple   neuronal architecture which
amplifies incoming coincident signals. This synchronization process is
accompanied by damped  oscillations which,  by themselves, however, do
not play any constructive role in this and can therefore be considered
to be an epiphenomenon.
 
Key words: neuronal networks / stochastic activity / burst
synchronization / phase-locking / oscillations
 
 
For comments, send e-mail to koch at iago.caltech.edu.
 
Christof
 
 
P.S. And this is how you can FTP and print the file:
 
 
              unix> ftp cheops.cis.ohio-state.edu (or 128.146.8.62)
              Name: anonymous
              Password: neuron
              ftp> cd pub/neuroprose (actually, cd neuroprose)
              ftp> binary
              ftp> get koch.syncron.ps.Z
              ftp> quit
              unix> uncompress koch.syncron.ps.Z
              unix> lpr koch.syncron.ps
 
              Read and be illuminated.