Phase Selective Oscillations in Two Noise Driven Synaptically Coupled Spiking Neurons

Abstract

The work investigates the influence of spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) mechanisms on the dynamics of two synaptically coupled neurons driven by additive external noise. In this setting, the noise signal models synaptic inputs that the pair receives from other neurons in a larger network. We show that in the absence of STDP feedbacks the pair of neurons exhibit oscillations and intermittent synchronization. When the synapse connecting the neurons is supplied with a phase selective feedback mechanism simulating STDP, induced dynamics of spikes in the coupled system resembles a phase locked mode with time lags between spikes oscillating about a specific value. This value, as we show by extensive numerical simulations, can be set arbitrary within a broad interval by tuning parameters of the STDP feedback.