This paper is a review dealing with the study of large size random recurrent
neural networks. The connection weights are selected according to a probability
law and it is possible to predict the network dynamics at a macroscopic scale
using an averaging principle. After a first introductory section, the section 1
reviews the various models from the points of view of the single neuron
dynamics and of the global network dynamics. A summary of notations is
presented, which is quite helpful for the sequel. In section 2, mean-field
dynamics is developed.
The probability distribution characterizing global dynamics is computed. In
section 3, some applications of mean-field theory to the prediction of chaotic
regime for Analog Formal Random Recurrent Neural Networks (AFRRNN) are
displayed. The case of AFRRNN with an homogeneous population of neurons is
studied in section 4. Then, a two-population model is studied in section 5. The
occurrence of a cyclo-stationary chaos is displayed using the results of
\cite{Dauce01}. In section 6, an insight of the application of mean-field
theory to IF networks is given using the results of \cite{BrunelHakim99}.Comment: Review paper, 36 pages, 5 figure