Modelling and Simulation of a Network of Plastic Pacemaker Neurons

Abstract

In Section 2.1.2 evidence was presented that certain nervous structures of vertebrate animals can assimilate and later autonomously reproduce rhythms previously received through a sensory modality. For a neuronal network to incorporate this capacity, it must be provided with at least two mechanisms: one of endogenous generation of rhythms and another of modification of its firing pattern. Both of these mechanisms can be in the individual neurons or be a property emerging from the connectivity of the network. The number of possibilities increases when realising that, between the individual and the collective extremes, there is a wide spectrum of hybrid systems in which the mentioned mechanisms act jointly at both levels.