Activity-dependent neuronal model on complex networks

Abstract

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Neuronal avalanches are a novel mode of activity in neuronal networks,experimentally found in vitro and in vivo, and exhibit a robust criticalbehaviour: These avalanches are characterized by a power law distribution forthe size and duration, features found in other problems in the context of thephysics of complex systems.We present a recent model inspired in self-organized criticality, whichconsists of an electrical network with threshold firing, refractory period andactivity-dependent synaptic plasticity. The model reproduces thecritical behaviour of thedistribution of avalanche sizes and durations measured experimentally.Moreover, the power spectra of the electrical signal reproduce very robustlythe power law behaviour found in human electroencephalogram (EEG) spectra.We implement this model on a variety of complex networks, i.e. regular,small-world and scale-free and verify the robustness of the critical behaviour.

Keywords

• self-organized criticality
• complex networks
• neuronal model