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doctoral thesis

Neural assemblies as core elements for modeling neural networks in the brain

Setareh, Hesam  
2017

How does the brain process and memorize information? We all know that the neuron (also known as nerve cell) is the processing unit in the brain. But how do neurons work together in networks? The connectivity structure of neural networks plays an important role in information processing. Therefore, it is worthwhile to investigate modeling of neural networks. Experiments extract different kinds of datasets (ranging from pair-wise connectivity to membrane potential of individual neurons) and provide an understanding of neuronal activity. However, due to technical limitations of experiments, and complexity and variety of neural architectures, the experimental datasets do not yield a model of neural networks on their own. Roughly speaking, the experimental datasets are not enough for modeling neural networks. Therefore, in addition to these datasets, we have to utilize assumptions, hand-tuned features, parameter tuning and heuristic methods for modeling networks. In this thesis, we present different models of neural networks that are able to produce several behaviors observed in mammalian brain and cell cultures, e.g., up-state/down-state oscillations, different stimulus-evoked responses of cortical layers, activity propagation with tunable speed and several activity patterns of mice barrel cortex. An element which is embedded in all of these models is a network feature called neural assembly. A neural assembly is a group (also called population) of neurons with dense recurrent connectivity and strong internal synaptic weights. We study the dynamics of neural assemblies using analytical approaches and computer simulations. We show that network models containing assemblies exhibit dynamics similar to activity observed in the brain.

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Type
doctoral thesis
DOI
10.5075/epfl-thesis-8228
Author(s)
Setareh, Hesam  
Advisors
Gerstner, Wulfram  
Jury

Prof. Michael Christoph Gastpar (président) ; Prof. Wulfram Gerstner (directeur de thèse) ; Prof. Carl Petersen, Prof. Markus Diesmann, Prof. Giancarlo La Camera (rapporteurs)

Date Issued

2017

Publisher

EPFL

Publisher place

Lausanne

Public defense year

2017-11-30

Thesis number

8228

Total of pages

138

Subjects

Cortical neural network

•

microcircuits of brain

•

neural assembly

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neural oscillations

•

spiking activity propagation

•

excitation chain

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cell culture

EPFL units
LCN  
Faculty
IC  
School
IINFCOM  
Doctoral School
EDIC  
Available on Infoscience
November 21, 2017
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/142255
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