Stochastic control of spiking activity bump expansion: Monotonic and resonant phenomena

Abstract

We consider spatially localized spiking activity patterns, so-called bumps, in ensembles of bistable spiking oscillators. The bistability consists in the coexistence of self-sustained spiking dynamics and a quiescent steady-state regime. We show numerically that the processes of growth or contraction of such patterns can be controlled by varying the intensity of multiplicative noise. In particular, the effect of noise is monotonic in an ensemble of coupled Hindmarsh–Rose oscillators. On the other hand, in another model proposed by Semenov et al. [Semenov et al., Phys. Rev. E 93, 052210 (2016)], a resonant noise effect is observed. In that model, stabilization of activity bump expansion is achieved at an appropriate noise level, and the noise effect reverses with a further increase in noise intensity. Moreover, we show the constructive role of nonlocal coupling that allows us to save domains and fronts being totally destroyed due to the action of noise in the case of local coupling.