STDP · Spike time dependent plasticity

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Project objective

Among the most fundamental objectives in modern brain research is the identification of the basic processes and mechanisms responsible for information processing, learning and memory. Many different hypotheses and conflicting models for this unsolved issue have been proposed, however, there is a wide consensus in the field that changes in synaptic connections among neurons in a network play a crucial role. Animal experiments over a period of 30 years have shown that changes in synaptic conductivity depend in a precise way on the time difference between action potentials in presynaptic and postsynaptic cells. This effect has been called spike-time dependent plasticity (STDP). The final aim of the present project will be to uncover the role of spike-time synaptic plasticity in synchronization and information transport in single units and in small neuronal networks. The approach will be mainly theoretical but it will build on experimental measurements of single neurons from the rat cortex using the dynamic clamp recording technique. By combining neurobiology, computational modelling, nonlinear dynamics and time series analysis, the origin of robustness and flexibility will be investigated at three different levels of organization: from the smallest identified neuronal subcircuits via individual neurons up to small microcircuits made up of a limited number of neurons and synapses.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE - ISTITUTO DEI SISTEMI COMPLESSI · ROMACoordinatorCity levelItaly
• INSTITUTE FOR NONLINEAR SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · LA JOLLACity levelUnited States

Links

• View on CORDIS