#38 · Systems biology

Conduction delays and plasticity shape slow rhythms and waves in spiking networks

The three preprints share a focus on how temporal structure in spiking or oscillatory networks, specifically synaptic and conduction delays, organizes collective dynamics. In inhibitory oscillator networks, synaptic delay generates slow rhythms, and continuation of phase-reduction models reveals the bifurcations underlying them. A discrete-time recurrent spiking network with weighted spike-timing-dependent plasticity and divisive normalization forms self-propagating dissipative-soliton-like waves, framed as a minimal model of cortical activity. In spiking Haken Lighthouse networks, theory addresses phase-locked states and linear stability under conduction delays, with activity-dependent myelination modulating those delays. The new element across these works is the explicit treatment of delay dynamics, including plasticity-driven adaptation of conduction, as a control parameter for network-level rhythms and patterns.