Self-organization in balanced state networks by STDP and homeostatic plasticity

Felix Effenberger

Max Planck Institut for Mathematics in the Sciences
Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 3:30pm
560 Evans Hall

Structural inhomogeneities have a strong impact on population response dynamics of cortical networks and are believed to play an important role in their functioning. However, little is known about how such inhomogeneities could evolve by means of synaptic plasticity. We present an adaptive model of a balanced neuronal network that combines two different types of plasticity, STDP and synaptic scaling. The plasticity rules yield both long-tailed distributions of synaptic weights and firing rates. Simultaneously, a highly connected subnetwork of “driver neurons” with strong synapses emerges. Coincident spiking activity of several driver cells can evoke population bursts and driver cells have similar dynamical properties as leader neurons found experimentally.