Hopf Bifurcation and Chaos in Tabu Learning Neuron Models

In this paper, we consider the nonlinear dynamical behaviors of some tabu leaning neuron models. We first consider a tabu learning single neuron model. By choosing the memory decay rate as a bifurcation parameter, we prove that Hopf bifurcation occurs in the neuron. The stability of the bifurcating periodic solutions and the direction of the Hopf bifurcation are determined by applying the normal form theory. We give a numerical example to verify the theoretical analysis. Then, we demonstrate the chaotic behavior in such a neuron with sinusoidal external input, via computer simulations. Finally, we study the chaotic behaviors in tabu learning two-neuron models, with linear and quadratic proximity functions respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, Accepted by International Journal of Bifurcation and Chao

Hopf Bifurcation and Chaos in a Single Inertial Neuron Model with Time Delay

A delayed differential equation modelling a single neuron with inertial term is considered in this paper. Hopf bifurcation is studied by using the normal form theory of retarded functional differential equations. When adopting a nonmonotonic activation function, chaotic behavior is observed. Phase plots, waveform plots, and power spectra are presented to confirm the chaoticity.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

A simple scalar coupled map lattice model for excitable media

A simple scalar coupled map lattice model for excitable media is intensively analysed in this paper. This model is used to explain the excitability of excitable media, and a Hopf-like bifurcation is employed to study the different spatio-temporal patterns produced by the model. Several basic rules for the construction of these kinds of models are proposed. Illustrative examples demonstrate that the sCML model is capable of generating complex spatiotemporal patterns

Mechanisms explaining transitions between tonic and phasic firing in neuronal populations as predicted by a low dimensional firing rate model

Several firing patterns experimentally observed in neural populations have been successfully correlated to animal behavior. Population bursting, hereby regarded as a period of high firing rate followed by a period of quiescence, is typically observed in groups of neurons during behavior. Biophysical membrane-potential models of single cell bursting involve at least three equations. Extending such models to study the collective behavior of neural populations involves thousands of equations and can be very expensive computationally. For this reason, low dimensional population models that capture biophysical aspects of networks are needed. \noindent The present paper uses a firing-rate model to study mechanisms that trigger and stop transitions between tonic and phasic population firing. These mechanisms are captured through a two-dimensional system, which can potentially be extended to include interactions between different areas of the nervous system with a small number of equations. The typical behavior of midbrain dopaminergic neurons in the rodent is used as an example to illustrate and interpret our results. \noindent The model presented here can be used as a building block to study interactions between networks of neurons. This theoretical approach may help contextualize and understand the factors involved in regulating burst firing in populations and how it may modulate distinct aspects of behavior.Comment: 25 pages (including references and appendices); 12 figures uploaded as separate file

Bistable Chimera Attractors on a Triangular Network of Oscillator Populations

We study a triangular network of three populations of coupled phase oscillators with identical frequencies. The populations interact nonlocally, in the sense that all oscillators are coupled to one another, but more weakly to those in neighboring populations than to those in their own population. This triangular network is the simplest discretization of a continuous ring of oscillators. Yet it displays an unexpectedly different behavior: in contrast to the lone stable chimera observed in continuous rings of oscillators, we find that this system exhibits \emph{two coexisting stable chimeras}. Both chimeras are, as usual, born through a saddle node bifurcation. As the coupling becomes increasingly local in nature they lose stability through a Hopf bifurcation, giving rise to breathing chimeras, which in turn get destroyed through a homoclinic bifurcation. Remarkably, one of the chimeras reemerges by a reversal of this scenario as we further increase the locality of the coupling, until it is annihilated through another saddle node bifurcation.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Finite-size and correlation-induced effects in Mean-field Dynamics

The brain's activity is characterized by the interaction of a very large number of neurons that are strongly affected by noise. However, signals often arise at macroscopic scales integrating the effect of many neurons into a reliable pattern of activity. In order to study such large neuronal assemblies, one is often led to derive mean-field limits summarizing the effect of the interaction of a large number of neurons into an effective signal. Classical mean-field approaches consider the evolution of a deterministic variable, the mean activity, thus neglecting the stochastic nature of neural behavior. In this article, we build upon two recent approaches that include correlations and higher order moments in mean-field equations, and study how these stochastic effects influence the solutions of the mean-field equations, both in the limit of an infinite number of neurons and for large yet finite networks. We introduce a new model, the infinite model, which arises from both equations by a rescaling of the variables and, which is invertible for finite-size networks, and hence, provides equivalent equations to those previously derived models. The study of this model allows us to understand qualitative behavior of such large-scale networks. We show that, though the solutions of the deterministic mean-field equation constitute uncorrelated solutions of the new mean-field equations, the stability properties of limit cycles are modified by the presence of correlations, and additional non-trivial behaviors including periodic orbits appear when there were none in the mean field. The origin of all these behaviors is then explored in finite-size networks where interesting mesoscopic scale effects appear. This study leads us to show that the infinite-size system appears as a singular limit of the network equations, and for any finite network, the system will differ from the infinite system