Dynamics of Firing Oscillations and Spatiotemporal Patterns in Biological Neuronal Networks

Dynamics of Firing Oscillations and Spatiotemporal Patterns in Biological Neuronal Networks
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This is a past event

CADR Special Seminar

The biological nervous system is an extremely complex information network composed of innumerable coupling neurons (neural cells), and it can encode, transfer and integrate information by firing activities. The electrical firing activities of nervous system are mainly embodied in generation, processing and transduction of action potential pulses in neurons. Neural information encoding and processing are reflected by oscillations of firing impulse sequences in neurons and spatiotemporal patterns in neuronal networks. 

Because neural electrical firing activities are crucial to nervous information, various complex firing phenomena have been observed in physiological experiments and numerical simulations of nervous systems, such as periodic, quasi-periodic, chaotic, and integer multiple rhythms of spikes (or bursts) and so on, due to complex physical and chemical processes as well as various interior and exterior factors (neuronal intracelluar and extracellular ion concentration, activities of ion channels, intrinsic and extrinsic noise and depolarizing current, and so on).

Recent advances in dynamics of neuronal electrical firing activities and network behaviors are presented. Firstly, the dynamics of electrical firing activities in a single neuron is concerned, including mainly the classification and transition mechanism of various firing patterns by means of fast-slow dynamics analysis and multiple parameters bifurcation analysis. Secondly, different types of synchronization of coupled neurons with electrical and chemical synapses are discussed. Thirdly, as noise is inevitable and important in nervous systems, stochastic dynamics of firing activities is concerned, such as integer multiple and other firing patterns induced by noise. It is also found that noise may induce or enhance synchronization and change firing patterns of coupled neurons. Noise-induced spatiotemporal patterns resulted from coherence resonances in coupled neuronal networks are also demonstrated. Fourthly, the dynamic behaviors of small world networks are concerned. Finally, some prospects are presented for future research in neurodynamics.

In consequence, the idea and methods of nonlinear dynamics are of great significance in exploration of dynamic processes and physiological functions of cognition in nervous systems.

Speaker
Prof. Qishao Lu, (Dept of Dynamics and Control, Beihang University, Beijing)
Venue
FN 111