Short-term and spike-timing-dependent plasticity facilitate the formation of modular neural networks

Author(s)

Lameu, Ewandson L. ^[1] ; Borges, Fernando S. ^[2] ; larosz, Kelly C. ^[3] ; Protachevicz, Paulo R. ^[3] ; Antonopoulos, Chris G. ^[4] ; Macau, Elbert E. N. ^{[1, 5]} ; Batista, Antonio M. ^{[3, 6]}

Affiliation

^[1] Natl Inst Space Res, BR-12227010 Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

^[2] Fed Univ ABC, Ctr Math Computat & Cognit, BR-09606045 Sao Bernardo Do Campo, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Phys, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[4] Univ Essex, Dept Math Sci, Wivenhoe Pk, Colchester, Essex - England

^[5] Univ Fed Sao Paulo, BR-12247014 Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

^[6] Univ Estadual Ponta Grossa, Dept Math & Stat, BR-84030900 Ponta Grossa, Parana - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: COMMUNICATIONS IN NONLINEAR SCIENCE AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION; v. 96, MAY 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

The brain has the phenomenal ability to reorganise itself by forming new connections among neurons and by pruning others. The so-called neural or brain plasticity facilitates the modification of brain structure and function over different time scales. Plasticity might occur due to external stimuli received from the environment, during recovery from brain injury, or due to modifications within the body and brain itself. In this paper, we study the combined effect of short-term (STP) and spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) on the synaptic strength of excitatory coupled Hodgkin-Huxley neurons and show that plasticity can facilitate the formation of modular neural networks with complex topologies that resemble those of networks with preferential attachment properties. In particular, we use an STDP rule that alters the synaptic coupling intensity based on time intervals between spikes of postsynaptic and presynaptic neurons. Previous work has shown that STDP may induce the emergence of directed connections from high to low frequency spiking neurons. On the other hand, STP is attributed to the release of neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft of neurons that alter its synaptic efficiency. Our results suggest that the combined effect of STP and STDP with long recovery times facilitates the formation of connections among neurons with similar spike frequencies only, a kind of preferential attachment. We then pursue this further and show that, when starting with all-to-all neural configurations, depending on the STP recovery time and distribution of neural frequencies, modular neural networks can emerge as a direct result of the combined effect of STP and STDP. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/50122-0 - Dynamic phenomena in complex networks: basics and applications
• Grantee: Elbert Einstein Nehrer Macau
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/13502-5 - Synchronisation in time-delayed networks with synaptic plasticity
• Grantee: Ewandson Luiz Lameu
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• FAPESP's process: 16/23398-8 - Synaptic plasticity in neuronal networks with time delay
• Grantee: Ewandson Luiz Lameu
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 15/07311-7 - Dynamic behaviour of neural networks
• Grantee: Kelly Cristiane Iarosz
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 17/18977-1 - Analysis of Electrical Synapses Contribution in Neuronal Synchronization
• Grantee: Fernando da Silva Borges
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 17/20920-8 - Plasticity in neuronal networks
• Grantee: Kelly Cristiane Iarosz
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• FAPESP's process: 20/04624-2 - Synaptic plasticity in neuronal networks
• Grantee: Paulo Ricardo Protachevicz
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 11/19296-1 - Nonlinear dynamics
• Grantee: Iberê Luiz Caldas
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants