The constructive role of diversity on the global response of coupled neuron systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates how diversity among coupled excitable neurons influences their collective response to external signals, highlighting the impact of interaction type and providing a mean-field theory for diffusive coupling.

Contribution

It introduces a mean-field theoretical framework to analyze the effect of heterogeneity in coupled neuron systems with different interaction types.

Findings

Heterogeneity enhances the collective response of neuron systems.

The interaction type critically affects the system's response to external signals.

Mean-field theory accurately predicts numerical results for diffusive coupling.

Abstract

We study the effect that the heterogeneity present among the elements of an ensemble of coupled excitable neurons have on the collective response of the system to an external signal. We have considered two different interaction scenarios, one in which the neurons are diffusively coupled and another in which the neurons interact via pulse-like signals. We found that the type of interaction between the neurons has a crucial role in determining the response of the system to the external modulation. We develop a mean-field theory based on an order parameter expansion that quantitatively reproduces the numerical results in the case of diffusive coupling.