Unstructured network topology begets order-based representation by privileged neurons.

ABSTRACT: How spiking activity reverberates through neuronal networks, how evoked and spontaneous activity interacts and blends, and how the combined activities represent external stimulation are pivotal questions in neuroscience. We simulated minimal models of unstructured spiking networks in silico, asking whether and how gentle external stimulation might be subsequently reflected in spontaneous activity fluctuations. Consistent with earlier findings in silico and in vitro, we observe a privileged subpopulation of 'pioneer neurons' that, by their firing order, reliably encode previous external stimulation. We also confirm that pioneer neurons are 'sensitive' in that they are recruited by small fluctuations of population activity. We show that order-based representations rely on a 'chain' of pionee

SUBMITTER: Bauermeister C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7062672 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature