Neuronal mechanisms for sequential activation of memory items: Dynamics and reliability

Abstract

In this article we present a biologically inspired model of activation of memory items in a sequence. Our model produces two types of sequences, corresponding to two different types of cerebral functions: activation of regular or irregular sequences. The switch between the two types of activation occurs through the modulation of biological parameters, without altering the connectivity matrix. Some of the parameters included in our model are neuronal gain, strength of inhibition, synaptic depression and noise. We investigate how these parameters enable the existence of sequences and influence the type of sequences observed. In particular we show that synaptic depression and noise drive the transitions from one memory item to the next and neuronal gain controls the switching between regular and irregular (random) activation.