Subthreshold Asynchronous States and Pattern Generation in Biophysically Detailed Populations of Neurons

Abstract. Learning with spikes is difficult. Spikes are metabolically costly and difficult to stabilize for computation. Here, we demonstrate that excitatory/inhibitory asynchronous states can exist without firing spikes through self-sustaining subthreshold voltage fluctuations in networks of biophysically detailed Hodgkin-Huxley neurons. This novel subthreshold asynchronous state, which we call voltage chaos, can be controlled for useful computation and pattern generation, also without firing spikes. Our work here provides computational evidence for the existence of neural circuits that compute exclusively with subthreshold dynamics.

Biosketch:  Dr. Wilten Nicola is an associate professor at the University of Calgary and a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Computational Neuroscience.   The Nicola Lab uses quantitative methods in applied mathematics, dynamical systems theory, and machine learning to understand how populations of neurons perform the complex operations and cause organism-level behaviors. We work with both experimental neuroscientists and theoreticians in our research pursuit.

Affiliations: Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary.   Hotchkiss Brain Institute.