Complementary action of chemical and electrical synapses to perception

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electrical and chemical synapses work together to improve the dynamic range of neuronal networks, revealing that electrical synapses enhance perception depending on their distribution and proportion.

Contribution

It introduces a cellular automaton model of neuronal networks with both synapse types and analyzes their combined effect on dynamic range enhancement.

Findings

Electrical synapses increase the network's dynamic range.

The enhancement depends on the proportion of electrical synapses.

Distribution of electrical synapses across layers influences the effect.

Abstract

We study the dynamic range of a cellular automaton model for a neuronal network with electrical and chemical synapses. The neural network is separated into two layers, where one layer corresponds to inhibitory, and the other corresponds to excitatory neurons. We randomly distribute electrical synapses in the network, in order to analyse the effects on the dynamic range. We verify that electrical synapses have a complementary effect on the enhancement of the dynamic range. The enhancement depends on the proportion of electrical synapses, and also depends on the layer where they are distributed.