Constructive role of shot noise in the collective dynamics of neural networks

V V Klinshov; P S Smelov; S Yu Kirillov

doi:10.1063/5.0147409

Constructive role of shot noise in the collective dynamics of neural networks

Chaos. 2023 Jun 1;33(6):061101. doi: 10.1063/5.0147409.

Authors

V V Klinshov^{1

2}, P S Smelov¹, S Yu Kirillov¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ulyanova Street 46, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
² National Research University Higher School of Economics, 25/12 Bol'shaya Pecherskaya Street, Nizhny Novgorod 603155, Russia.

PMID: 37276575
DOI: 10.1063/5.0147409

Abstract

Finite-size effects may significantly influence the collective dynamics of large populations of neurons. Recently, we have shown that in globally coupled networks these effects can be interpreted as additional common noise term, the so-called shot noise, to the macroscopic dynamics unfolding in the thermodynamic limit. Here, we continue to explore the role of the shot noise in the collective dynamics of globally coupled neural networks. Namely, we study the noise-induced switching between different macroscopic regimes. We show that shot noise can turn attractors of the infinitely large network into metastable states whose lifetimes smoothly depend on the system parameters. A surprising effect is that the shot noise modifies the region where a certain macroscopic regime exists compared to the thermodynamic limit. This may be interpreted as a constructive role of the shot noise since a certain macroscopic state appears in a parameter region where it does not exist in an infinite network.