Short-Term Synaptic Plasticity and Network Behavior

We develop a minimal time-continuous model for use-dependent synaptic short-term plasticity that can account for both short-term depression and short-term facilitation. It is analyzed in the context of the spike response neuron model. Explicit expressions are derived for the synaptic strength as a function of previous spike arrival times. These results are then used to investigate the behavior of large networks of highly interconnected neurons in the presence of short-term synaptic plasticity. We extend previous results so as to elucidate the existence and stability of limit cycles with coherently firing neurons. After the onset of an external stimulus, we have found complex transient network behavior that manifests itself as a sequence of different modes of coherent firing until a stable limit cycle is reached.