Connectionists: A new paper on self-organizion of synfire chain

[Dezhe Jin]

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to announce publication of a new paper on self-organized  
growth of synfire chains. The abstract and link to the paper is as  
follows:

Title: Development of neural circuitry for precise temporal sequences  
through spontaneous activity, axon remodeling, and synaptic plasticity.
Joseph K. Jun and Dezhe Z. Jin

Abstract:
Temporally precise sequences of neuronal spikes that span hundreds of  
milliseconds are observed in many brain areas, including songbird  
premotor nucleus, cat visual cortex, and primary motor cortex.  
Synfire chains-networks in which groups of neurons are connected via  
excitatory synapses into a unidirectional chain-are thought to  
underlie the generation of such sequences. It is unknown, however,  
how synfire chains can form in local neural circuits, especially for  
long chains. Here, we show through computer simulation that long  
synfire chains can develop through spike-time dependent synaptic  
plasticity and axon remodeling-the pruning of prolific weak  
connections that follows the emergence of a finite number of strong  
connections. The formation process begins with a random network. A  
subset of neurons, called training neurons, intermittently receive  
superthreshold external input. Gradually, a synfire chain emerges  
through a recruiting process, in which neurons within the network  
connect to the tail of the chain started by the training neurons. The  
model is robust to varying parameters, as well as natural events like  
neuronal turnover and massive lesions. Our model suggests that long  
synfire chain can form during the development through self- 
organization, and axon remodeling, ubiquitous in developing neural  
circuits, is essential in the process.

Available in an open access journal PLoS ONE:
http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action? 
articleURI=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000723

Also at
http://phys.psu.edu/~djin/publications.html

Best,

-Dezhe Jin

----
Dezhe Z. Jin
Assistant Professor of Physics
Department of Physics
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
814-863-6673 (tel), 814-865-3604 (fax)
Web: http://phys.psu.edu/~djin/