Precisely timed transient synchronization by depressing synapses

Abstract We study the dynamical effects of depressing synapses on stimulus-induced synchronization in a simple network of inhibitory and excitatory neurons, assuming that the recurrent excitation is mediated by depressing synapses. It is demonstrated that depressing synapses greatly contribute to suppressing the influences of noise in afferent stimuli on the stimulus-specific temporal patterns of synchronous firing. In cooperation with synaptic depression, the timing-based Hebbian learning suggested by physiological experiments improves the stability of the temporal patterns. Thus, the times at which synchronous firing occurs can be a reliable information career in the presence of synaptic depression.