Learning and structure of neuronal networks

Abstract

We study the effect of learning dynamics on network topology. Firstly, a network of discrete dynamical systems is considered for this purpose and the coupling strengths are made to evolve according to a temporal learning rule that is based on the paradigm of spike-time-dependent plasticity (STDP). This incorporates necessary competition between different edges. The final network we obtain is robust and has a broad degree distribution. Then we study the dynamics of the structure of a formal neural network. For properly chosen input signals, there exists a steady state with a residual network. We compare the motif profile of such a network with that of the real neural network of C. elegans and identify robust qualitative similarities. In particular, our extensive numerical simulations show that this STDP-driven resulting network is robust under variations of model parameters. © Indian Academy of Sciences.