When stimulated with complex action potential sequences synapses exhibit spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) with modulated preand postsynaptic contributions to long-term synaptic modifications. In order to investigate the functional consequences of these contribution dynamics (CD) we propose a minimal model formulated in terms of differential equations. We find that our model reproduces d...

There has been an increased interest in a novel type of synaptic plasticity spike-timingdependent plasticity (STDP), in which potentiation or depression occurs depending on the temporal order of the pre and postsynaptic spikes; see Fig. 1a. However, it is not clear how STDP relates to the best studied form of synaptic plasticity – classical LTP and LTD. The two kinds of plasticity must be someh...

Single spikes and their timing matter in changing synaptic efficacy, which is known as spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). Most previous studies treated spikes as all-or-none events, and considered their duration and magnitude as negligible. Here we explore the effects of action potential (AP) duration on synaptic plasticity in a simplified model neuron using computer simulations. We prop...

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) has been suggested to play a role in the development of functional neuronal connections. However, for STDP to contribute to the synaptic organization, its learning curve should satisfy a requirement that the magnitude of long-term potentiation (LTP) is approximately the same as that of long-term depression (LTD). Without such balance between LTP and LTD,...

Throughout life, activity-dependent changes in neuronal connection strength enable the brain to refine neural circuits and learn based on experience. In line with predictions made by Hebb, synapse strength can be modified depending on the millisecond timing of action potential firing (STDP). The sign of synaptic plasticity depends on the spike order of presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons. Iono...

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) has attracted considerable experimental and theoretical attention over the last decade. In the most basic formulation, STDP provides a fundamental unit - a spike pair - for quantifying the induction of long-term changes in synaptic strength. However, many factors, both pre- and postsynaptic, can affect synaptic transmission and integration, especially wh...

Online machine learning rules and many biological spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) learning rules generate jump process Markov chains for the synaptic weights. We give a perturbation expansion for the dynamics that, unlike the usual approximation by a Fokker-Planck equation (FPE), is well justified. Our approach extends the related system size expansion by giving an expansion for the pr...

Norepinephrine (NE) is widely distributed throughout the brain. It modulates intrinsic currents, as well as amplitude and frequency of synaptic transmission affecting the 'signal-to-noise ratio' of sensory responses. In the visual cortex, α₁- and β-adrenergic receptors (AR) gate opposing effects on long-term plasticity of excitatory transmission. Whether and how NE recruits these plastic mechan...

The idea that synaptic plasticity holds the key to the neural basis of learning and memory is now widely accepted in neuroscience. The precise mechanism of changes in synaptic strength has, however, remained elusive. Neurobiological research has led to the postulation of many models of plasticity, and among the most contemporary are spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) and long-term potenti...