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Some comments on activation and inhibition

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Abstract

A system of rate equations gives rise to a corresponding pattern of activation and inhibition between the state variables. We consider the converse question: to what extent does the specification of a pattern of activation and inhibition between interacting quantities determine the rate equations? Among other things, it is shown that in order to determine a closed set of rate equations, a set of integrability conditions among the interactions must be satisfied; hence there is a sense in which an activation-inhibition pattern is more general than systems of rate equations. Questions of the structural interactions, are briefly discussed. A comparison is made between the properties of such activation-inhibition patterns and those of neural networks, or more general modular automata.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University, B3H 4H7, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Robert Rosen

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  1. Robert Rosen
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Rosen, R. Some comments on activation and inhibition. Bltn Mathcal Biology 41, 427–445 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460821

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02460821

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