Establishing communication between neuronal populations through competitive entrainment

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Abstract
The role of gamma frequency oscillation in neuronal interaction, and the relationship between oscillation and information transfer between neurons, has been the focus of much recent research. While the biological mechanisms responsible for gamma oscillation and the properties of resulting networks are well studied, the dynamics of changing phase relationships and mechanisms underlying the formation of phase coherence between oscillating neuronal populations are not well understood. To this end we develop a computational model of competitive selection between multiple stimuli, where selection and the transfer of population-encoded information arises from competition between converging stimuli to entrain a target population of neurons. Oscillation is generated by Pyramidal-Interneuronal Network Gamma through the action of recurrent synaptic connections between a locally connected network of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Competition between stimuli is driven by differences in coherence of oscillation, while transmission of a single selected stimulus is enabled between generating and receiving neurons via Communication-through-Coherence. We explore the effect of varying synaptic parameters on the competitive transmission of stimuli over different neuron models, and identify a continuous region within the parameter space of the recurrent synaptic loop where inhibition-induced oscillation results in entrainment of target neurons. Within this optimal region we find that competition between stimuli of equal coherence results in model output that alternates between representation of the stimuli, in a manner strongly resembling well-known biological phenomena resulting from competitive stimulus selection such as binocular rivalry.