Speaker: Sharon Crook,
Department of Mathematics and Statistics and School of Life Sciences,
Arizona State University

Title: Coupled Oscillator Models of Cortical Dynamics

Abstract. In the neuroscience community, there is great interest in the biophysical mechanisms
underlying the oscillatory properties of networks of cortical cells. In particular
there are many questions about which properties encourage synchrony,
traveling waves of oscillations, or other phase shifts in phase-locked activity
that may be computationally significant. I will show how coupled oscillator
models which use a single phase variable to approximate the membrane
potential of each neuron during repetitive firing can be used to examine the
effects of different biophysical mechanisms on network dynamics. In these
models, the network dynamics depend critically on the type of connectivity
and the interaction function chosen to describe the coupling among cells.
I will give examples of how this reduction technique has been used to
study the possible effects of spike frequency adaptation, axonal delay,
and different combinations of chemical and electrical synaptic coupling.