title: Dynamical mechanism for sharp orientation tuning in an integrate-and-fire model of a cortical hypercolumn.
abstract: Orientation tuning in a ring of pulse-coupled integrate-and-fire (IF) neurons is analyzed in terms of spontaneous pattern formation. It is shown how the ring bifurcates from a synchronous state to a non-phase-locked state whose spike trains are characterized by clustered but irregular fluctuations of the interspike intervals (ISIs). The separation of these clusters in phase space results in a localized peak of activity as measured by the time-averaged firing rate of the neurons. This generates a sharp orientation tuning curve that can lock to a slowly rotating, weakly tuned external stimulus. Under certain conditions, the peak can slowly rotate even to a fixed external stimulus. The ring also exhibits hysteresis due to the subcritical nature of the bifurcation to sharp orientation tuning. Such behavior is shown to be consistent with a corresponding analog version of the IF model in the limit of slow synaptic interactions. For fast synapses, the deterministic fluctuations of the ISIs associated with the tuning curve can support a coefficient of variation of order unity.
authors: Department of Mathematical Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK.
authors: P C
authors: PC
authors: Bressloff
authors: N W
authors: NW
authors: Bressloff
authors: J D
authors: JD
authors: Cowan
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D008959:Models, Neurological; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*