While most models of randomly connected networks assume nodes with simple
dynamics, nodes in realistic highly connected networks, such as neurons in the
brain, exhibit intrinsic dynamics over multiple timescales. We analyze how the
dynamical properties of nodes (such as single neurons) and recurrent
connections interact to shape the effective dynamics in large randomly
connected networks. A novel dynamical mean-field theory for strongly connected
networks of multi-dimensional rate units shows that the power spectrum of the
network activity in the chaotic phase emerges from a nonlinear sharpening of
the frequency response function of single units. For the case of
two-dimensional rate units with strong adaptation, we find that the network
exhibits a state of "resonant chaos", characterized by robust, narrow-band
stochastic oscillations. The coherence of stochastic oscillations is maximal at
the onset of chaos and their correlation time scales with the adaptation
timescale of single units. Surprisingly, the resonance frequency can be
predicted from the properties of isolated units, even in the presence of
heterogeneity in the adaptation parameters. In the presence of these
internally-generated chaotic fluctuations, the transmission of weak,
low-frequency signals is strongly enhanced by adaptation, whereas signal
transmission is not influenced by adaptation in the non-chaotic regime. Our
theoretical framework can be applied to other mechanisms at the level of single
nodes, such as synaptic filtering, refractoriness or spike synchronization.
These results advance our understanding of the interaction between the dynamics
of single units and recurrent connectivity, which is a fundamental step toward
the description of biologically realistic network models in the brain, or, more
generally, networks of other physical or man-made complex dynamical units